MOSCOW – The world this weekend celebrated the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. So, a day after the big party, why was Russian President Vladimir Putin praising an agreement between the Soviet Union and the Nazis that helped spark World War II?
That’s what he did standing next to German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Moscow on Sunday.
During the Soviet era, the official line was that Stalin had little choice but to agree to a treaty of nonaggression with Nazi Germany because he had been spurned by France and Britain in his bid to create an anti-fascist alliance.
But that ignored the existence of a secret addendum to the Germany-Soviet Untion deal that awarded Eastern Europe to the Soviet Union. It paved the way for the Soviet Union’s later domination of Eastern European nations – and it meant that Stalin was caught napping in 1941 when Hitler launched a surprise attack on the Soviet Union.
And for the nations of Eastern Europe, including Poland, the Baltics and others, the pact meant that the conclusion of World War II marked an end to one form of cruel domination and the beginning of another.
“From my perspective, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is very difficult to understand if one doesn’t also keep in mind the secret addendum,” Merkel said, drawing a sour look from Putin. “From this perspective, I believe this was an agreement that was born out of an injustice.”
