Abstract

This article shows changes in the relationship between Ukraine and the Republic of Poland during the final years of Viktor Yushchenko’s presidency in Ukraine. The analysis has been prompted by a release of the previously classified 2008 document, known as «Theses on the Polish policy towards Russia and Ukraine,» which described the necessity for Poland to change its foreign policy in favor of Russia instead of Ukraine. Following the research of presented sources and literature, including the declassified document, it has been shown in the article how Poland’s acceptation into the EU and the Schengen Area had negatively influenced Polish-Ukrainian cross-national cooperation, together with Poland’s own secret change of priorities. This change has forced Ukraine, which saw Poland as its main partner in the strategy of the foreign policy related to the entry into EU, to act despite its own geopolitical interests. In the meantime, certain changes in the Ukrainian and Polish political life from 2005 to 2010 also influenced Polish-Ukrainian relations and made the previous «alliance of two presidents» impossible.