The European Parliament adopted a resolution on September 19, in which the Soviet-German non-aggression pact of 1939 was declared the cause of World War II. According to Radio Poland, the document was prepared "at the initiative of Lithuania with the support of Polish deputies."
The original text of the resolution, published as early as September 17, notes that it was introduced by Polish European deputies on behalf of the European Conservatives and Reformists faction, which includes the Polish ruling party, Law and Justice. Also, according to Polish radio, one of the representatives of Poland in the legislative body of the European Union, Anna Fotyga, admitted that she was the one who owned the idea of this document.
“The Second World War, the most destructive in the history of Europe, was a direct consequence of the notorious Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact of August 23, 1939, also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and its secret protocols, according to which two totalitarian regimes were set in order to conquer the world, they divided Europe into two zones of influence, ”the text of the resolution, which was approved by the European Parliament on September 19, emphasizes.
Commenting on the resolution, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that the statement of the European deputies has nothing to do with history.
“We would like to once again emphasize the danger of the course towards politicization and revision of historical facts. Silenting the pages that are unpleasant for themselves and interpreting the “retouched” version of events at their discretion, the European Parliament will finally lose touch with reality, ”said the statement of Zakharova, published on the official website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
According to experts interviewed by RT, such an interpretation of events completely contradicts an objective study of history.
“There is no way to agree with this statement,” said Oleg Nemensky, an expert at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, in an interview with RT. “This pact did not fundamentally differ from a number of other similar documents that other countries signed at that time.”
The expert recalled that the pact also stipulated the limits of German territorial expansion to the east. But this cannot be considered a factor that contributed to the outbreak of World War II, says Nemensky.
In addition, he recalled that by August 1939 the armed conflict in Europe was in full swing: Nazi Germany had already annexed a serious chunk of foreign territories, occupying Czechoslovakia. The USSR invited the Western powers to provide joint resistance to Hitler. However, due to the anti-Soviet position of Warsaw, which feared for the fate of its eastern regions, then populated by Ukrainians and Belarusians, this alliance was not viable. Poland refused to let Soviet troops through its territory to counter Hitler.
"The main reason that the Second World War began just like that - with the German occupation of Poland - lies in the imperialist policy of interwar Poland," said Oleg Nemensky.
In turn, HSE professor Oleg Matveychev notes that Poland itself signed the non-aggression document with Hitler Germany in 1934. In 1938, during a conference in Munich, representatives of Great Britain and France decided for the Czechoslovak authorities the fate of their country. Then, taking advantage of German pressure on Czechoslovakia, Poland annexed part of the neighboring state - the eastern edge of the Cieszyn region.
“The true reason for the Second World War is that the Western countries took and gave Hitler to slaughter Czechoslovakia, from which Poland grabbed a piece of itself. At the same time, Warsaw had the exact same non-aggression treaty with Germany - the Pilsudski-Hitler pact, ”Matveychev recalled.
History manipulation
The day before the vote on the resolution on the 80th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the European MPs debated and introduced a number of changes to the text. One of the most notable is the disappearance of the critical mention of the “Munich Agreement” of 1938 as an event preceding the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
An item on the fight against Holocaust denial was also added to the final version of the resolution, but the passage was removed in which the tragedy of the Jewish people was put on a par with the shooting of Polish officers in Katyn, the Gulag and the famine in Ukraine (Holodomor). In addition, a proposal appeared in the resolution, in which Russia was called the “biggest” victim of “communist totalitarianism” and called on our country to abandon the “glorification of the Soviet totalitarian regime” in order to advance along the path of democratization.
At the same time, the text that the European Parliament adopted on September 19 contains an accusation against Russia of falsifying history.
In particular, the EU legislative body, according to European parliamentarians, “is deeply concerned about the attempts of today's Russian leadership to distort historical facts and justify the crimes committed by the Soviet totalitarian regime, considers them a dangerous component of the information war being waged against democratic Europe in order to divide it, and therefore calls on the Commission resolutely resist these efforts. ”
As Alexander Dyukov, Director General of the Historical Memory Foundation, noted in a conversation with RT, “that the European Parliament calls for a fight with other historical points of view, demonstrates that specific totalitarian thinking has taken hold of European deputies.” According to him, the nature of this resolution is very “repressive,” and it is aimed at “interfering in historical disputes and cutting off a point of view that is ideologically inconsistent with European positions.”
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In addition, the resolution expresses concern over the use of “symbols of totalitarian regimes” in Europe and notes that a number of EU countries have banned both communist and Nazi symbols.
It is worth noting that in the original version of the resolution, the Lithuanian and Polish initiators tried to make a statement about the inadmissibility of the presence in Europe of memorials, parks and squares, "glorifying the Soviet army." However, although in an amended form, this statement has been preserved in the final version of the document:
“The continued presence in public places in a number of member states of monuments and memorials (parks, squares, streets, etc.) glorifying totalitarian regimes,” the resolution notes, “creates prerequisites for distorting historical facts about the consequences of World War II and for propaganda of a totalitarian political system. ”
The resolution also calls for "all Member States to celebrate August 23 as the European Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Totalitarian Regimes" in honor of the Polish officer Vitold Pilecki, who was shot on this day by the authorities of the Polish People’s Republic in 1948.
“The current resolution of the European Parliament demonstrates the victory of Polish historical politics in the European space,” says Oleg Nemensky.
From his point of view, among the European allies of the United States, it is now "considered in principle useful in the conditions of the new Cold War" to work to tarnish Russia's image. The initiators of this trend are Warsaw and the Baltic countries, he said.
- Torch march in Estonia
- Reuters
- © Ints Kalnins
“This resolution is directed against Russia and against the interpretation of history, which does not fit into the existing ideological standards,” says Alexander Dyukov.
The expert does not exclude that in the EU, on the model of the Baltic countries, “persecution” of those who do not agree with the official interpretation of historical events may begin.
Wave of allegations
Recall that this is not the first resolution of the European Parliament, which condemns the Soviet-German non-aggression pact. Ten years ago, the EP already adopted a similar document. In it, in particular, it was proposed that August 23, the date of signing the Soviet-German treaty, be considered "a pan-European day in memory of the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes." However, then there were no direct accusations against Russia of a “wrong" interpretation of history in the text of the resolution of the European Parliament.
- The European Parliament
- Reuters
- © Vincent Kessler
According to experts, in recent years, against the backdrop of increasing geopolitical confrontation between Russia and the West, cases of distorted interpretations of history have become more frequent in Europe, in which our country is sought to be exposed in an unfavorable light. The current leadership of Poland is particularly active in this field.
So, back in 2017, the then Foreign Minister of Poland, Witold Waszczikowski, stated that the USSR was responsible for unleashing the Second World War along with Hitler Germany. This year, Warsaw defiantly did not invite Russia to events dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.
Supported the position of Poland and its NATO allies. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in early September said that Poland during the Second World War was between the "hammer of fascism" and the "anvil of communism." In the same days, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry called the “dubious historical thesis” of the allegation that the war of the Red Army against the Nazis led to the liberation of Europe.
In response, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called on "to stop distorting historical facts, to abandon the course to undermine the existing international legal system, to be guided in their assessments by international law, in which the results of the Second World War are uniquely fixed."
“Will not contribute to improving relations”
According to experts, the condemnation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact has become a common trend for all Eastern European countries. And this applies not only to Poland, which, as a result of the implementation of the secret protocols to the Soviet-German agreement, lost the territories of the present western Ukraine and western Belarus, but also Romania, which returned the USSR to Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina (now the territory of Moldova and all of Ukraine).
This year, August 23 was a mourning date in Ukraine and Moldova.
The Lithuanian authorities also prefer not to recall that they received the current capital of Vilnius with the adjacent territory precisely on the basis of the very pact that is now so condemned. In the 1920s and 1930s, the city was called Vilna and was part of Poland.
According to Oleg Nemensky, the condemnation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact may lead to the fact that the question of the legitimacy of the possession of these countries acquired by its results territories will be raised.
“This is an orientation towards a complete review of the results of the Second World War,” the expert notes. - So far, such requirements are considered unacceptable. But the logic of statements about the pact itself cannot but lead to the fact that such a question will nevertheless be raised. ”
According to Nemensky, the anti-Russian provisions of the new resolution of the European Parliament can affect the general informational background of relations between Europe and Russia, undermining the prospects for their normalization.
“This will not contribute to improving relations,” agrees Alexander Dyukov. “Of course, the declaration of the European Parliament is not a normative act, but, nevertheless, it can adversely affect the dialogue between the EU and Russia.”
In turn, Oleg Matveychev considers the anti-Russian resolution "short-sighted."
“The countries that condemn the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact are short-sighted because they think that everything they have will always be with them. Now they don’t understand that America is losing its hegemonic position and that European countries themselves are weakening due to internal political problems, ”the expert said.