Russia declassifies secret documents on Nazi-Soviet pact

Tom Parfitt in Moscow guardian.co.uk, Friday 21 August 2009 20.05

Russia has declassified top-secret surveillance documents in an attempt to justify its occupation of Eastern Europe under the Nazi-Soviet pact, signed 70 years ago on Sunday.

The hidden protocols of the pact, in which Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler agreed to carve up Poland and other sovereign states, were denounced by the Soviet parliament in 1989, shortly after they were revealed for the first time.

But the pact, which lasted until Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, is now being rehabilitated to chime with Kremlin ideology that claims a Russian sphere of interest in the "near abroad" former Soviet republics.

Hundreds of formerly secret spy documents have been published in a compendium by Lev Sotskov, a retired KGB major general working under the auspices of the SVR, Russia's foreign intelligence service. The SVR said the files demonstrated the Soviet Union was left with no choice but to agree a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany in August 1939 after Britain and France signed the Munich agreement appeasing Hitler's partition of Czechoslovakia the previous year.

The pact – signed by foreign ministers Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop – bought time for the Kremlin after the west had betrayed Stalin, Sotskov told reporters in Moscow. Declassified documents collected by the NKVD showed London and Paris wanted to "direct Hitler's aggression to the east" and were indifferent to the fate of the Baltics, he said, adding: "Now the thinking behind English politics is revealed: let Germany start a war with the USSR and then we'll see what happens."

Most contentious is likely to be Sotskov's claim that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania willingly acquiesced to Soviet domination. "There was no occupation," Sotskov said. Historians and politicians in those countries vehemently deny such claims, saying tens of thousands of people were killed or sent to the Gulag and puppet authorities installed to enable annexation.

Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev, stressed after the war with Georgia last year that Russia has a "zone of privileged interests" in its "near abroad". Earlier this year he set up a commission to battle "falsification of history", saying neighbouring states were trying to distort Russia's past for political gains.

Pavel Felgenhauer, a military expert at the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, claimed Moscow was praising the Nazi-Soviet pact's secret protocol outlining a sphere of influence in Europe because "the Kremlin clearly wishes to re-enact it."

"In his understanding of realpolitik, [prime minister] Vladimir Putin does not diverge from the line set by Josef Stalin," military analyst Alexander Golts wrote in the online Yezhednevny Zhurnal. "Military force decides everything, and if there is an opportunity to grab a piece of someone else's territory, it should be taken."

Latvia's ex-president Vaira Vike-Freiberga said in a radio interview that Russia was "incapable of understanding the tragedy of our occupation". "We will have to battle to preserve our independence until the end of our days," she said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/21/russia-documents-nazi-s...

Views: 44

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

Doc Vega posted a blog post

Three Must See Movies for Halloween

Grab Your Popcorn and Settle In!  If you really want to get in the mood for Halloween and you like…See More
4 hours ago
Bob of the Family Renner posted photos
7 hours ago
Doc Vega posted a blog post

Terror on All Hallows Eve

Chapter IElizabeth was angry. All of her friends were going to be out on Halloween, but her. She…See More
yesterday
Jeff favorited Jeff's profile
yesterday
Jeff favorited Jeff's profile
yesterday
Jeff favorited Doc Vega's profile
yesterday
Jeff is now a member of 12160 Social Network
Sunday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Friday
tjdavis posted a video

How Corporations Are Secretly Poisoning Our Food Supply

Dupont and 3M have been secretly poisoning America for decades. PFAs — also known as forever chemicals—are now in our food, water, clothes, and our blood. Th...
Friday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

They Won’t Stop

 The demonically driven left will not stop. Makes no difference how much violence they call for or…See More
Oct 22
Doc Vega posted a blog post

What US Scientist unwittingly helped the Nazis devise the V-2 Missile?

  In the early 1920’s and leading up to World War II German technology outpaces the peace time…See More
Oct 20
tjdavis favorited Sandy's video
Oct 19
tjdavis posted a photo
Oct 19
Christopher Walker is now a member of 12160 Social Network
Oct 19
tjdavis posted videos
Oct 19
Burbia commented on tjdavis's photo
Thumbnail

Reflection

"Let's see if this goes past indictment."
Oct 18
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Something Watches From Out there in the Wilderness
"cheeki kea That's very interesting history. So many things about history that go ignored or…"
Oct 18
Burbia commented on Burbia's video
Oct 18
Burbia posted a video

Programmed To Kill/Satanic Cover-Up Part 433 (The Charlie Kirk Conspiracy Show)

https://www.programmedtokill.net/projects---- DISCLAIMER! ----Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair u...
Oct 18
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's photo
Thumbnail

American werewolf- 2018

"Yip I've looked again and this is what the creature looks like, even has stripes just like…"
Oct 18

© 2025   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted