Russian Ambassador Sergei Andreyev has been summoned to the Polish Foreign Ministry in connection with the latest statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the agency PAP with reference to the deputy head of the Polish Foreign Ministry, Marcin Przydacz.
Poland is dissatisfied with the statements of President Vladimir Putin and Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin on the causes of World War II. Also Warsaw is outraged by the Russian president’s statement regarding Polish Ambassador to Germany Jozef Lipski.
“In their comments they [the Russian authorities. – Belsat.eu] are trying to reduce the joint responsibility of the Soviet Union for the destruction of peace in Europe. The USSR was Germany’s ally in 1939-1941,” said Marcin Przydacz.
In his view, such statements prove that international efforts to condemn not only Nazi but also Soviet totalitarianism are still needed.
In turn, Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergei Andreev told RIA Novosti after the meeting in the Polish Foreign Ministry that the conversation was “tough” but quite tactful.
“We won’t let anyone lecture us,” he said.
On December 19 and 20, Vladimir Putin spoke in defense of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. And on December 24, he called ambassador of Poland to Germany, who promised a monument to Hitler in 1938 for the expulsion of Jews to Africa “a bastard and anti-Semitic pig”.
The executive director of the American Jewish Committee, David Harris, wrote on Twitter that Nazi Germany, and not Poland, was responsible for starting World War II. And the Soviet influence in Europe after 1945 extended the oppression of Eastern European countries.
The Polish Foreign Ministry had already issued a statement stressing that Poland, which had regained its independence in 1918, was forced to pursue a policy of balance with Germany and the USSR. That is why non-aggression treaties were signed in 1932 with Moscow and in 1934 with Berlin. However, the USSR took actions “directly aimed at causing war,” the statement stressed. In particular, in 1937, as part of the Polish NKVD operation, 111 thousand Poles were killed, and tens of thousands were exiled or arrested.
In spring 1939, political cooperation between the USSR and Germany began, and the German-Polish non-aggression treaty was terminated. On August 23 the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed, which divided Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.
On September, 1st the aggression of German Nazis against Poland began and on September, 17th the Soviet armies joined it. On September, 28th the parties signed the treaty on borders, having fixed division of Poland among themselves. In the Soviet zone of occupation in 1939-1941 not less than 107 thousand former Polish citizens were arrested, 380 thousand were deported and 22 thousand Polish soldiers were shot. In 1944, the repression was resumed. Among other things, the leaders of the Polish underground were punished.
