Yushchenko says Stepan Bandera should not be deprived of Hero of Ukraine title

Incumbent President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko has said he is sure that his decree conferring the title of Hero of Ukraine to Stepan Bandera will not be canceled.

"I'm sure that nobody will dare cancel the decree of President Yushchenko regarding this issue," has said at a press conference in Kyiv on Feb. 16.

He noted that the decree wasn't a political step and called on the Ukrainian nation to respect its own history.

According to Yushchenko, Victor Yanukovych was elected president of an independent country, and he would not have good prospects if there were no patriots.

As reported, on Jan. 22, the Ukrainian president conferred the Hero of Ukraine rank to Bandera, leader of a Ukrainian underground militant nationalist movement in the 1940s.

Source:unian.net/