Poland’s parliament, Friday, paid tribute to the memory of Polish POWs and Katyn “victims of the genocidal Soviet regime”.

In a special resolution, the parliament said that the decision to murder over 20, 000 Polish officers in 1940 taken by the Soviet authorities was a violation of the fundamental legal and moral principles. The resolution also refers to the lies about Katyn proffered for half a century by Soviet propaganda.

Polish parliamentarians paid tribute to all the victims of Stalin’s communism, saying that the painful experiences of the 20th century’s totalitarian systems should unite Poles with the Russians, Ukrainians and Belorussians and not divide them.

Polish MPs describe the presence of the Polish and Russian Prime Ministers at the Katyn ceremony two days ago as an important gesture of a symbolic significance. Polish-Russian reconciliation, the resolution says in closing, is possible only on the basis of the respect for truth and memory.