Poland will repatriate ethnic Poles

Poland's Finance Minister Mateusz Szczurek said that the government has earmarked about $8 million in 2016 to repatriate tens of thousands of ethnic Poles living in Kazakhstan, Ukraine and other former Soviet republics. Poles were expelled from Poland mostly during the World War II, when Soviet authorities resettled them to the steppes of Kazakhstan from areas occupied by the Red Army. The money for the repatriations will be channeled for housing, Polish language lessons and professional training. The decision comes after a heated debate on whether Poland should take in Syrian, African and Asian refugees.