Putin spoke of the Baltic states: in one sentence he betrayed the real plan of the Kremlin

Last Sunday, June 14, when Lithuania quietly celebrated the Day of Mourning and Hope to commemorate the deportations of Soviet-occupied Lithuania in 1941, a spokesman for the Russian president in Moscow happily reported on the “long-awaited” news: Putin wrote an article about World War II. Putin will decide for himself when to publish it.

And he was not mistaken: it is no coincidence that Putin’s long article was published in The National Interest. For several years now, the publication, which has been publishing pro-Kremlin articles, has provided a platform for the Russian president.

Officially published in the US USA And with a portal version, the national interest is owned by Dmitry Simes, a Moscow-born businessman with close ties to Putin, who is linked to the Kremlin’s efforts in 2016 to intervene in the US election campaign. USA

Simes is known for his role in helping Maria Butina, a self-confessed Russian citizen and Kremlin agent who tried to influence the 2016 presidential election. In April 2016, Simes himself even hosted an event for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, in the one that the future leader of the country for the first time openly spoke about the need to strengthen ties with Russia.

However, Putin’s article “The National Interest” in itself does not smell of closer ties and friendship with the West: it blames the accusations against Western states, teaches various conspiracy theories, silences some facts, makes distorted statements, or simply false about what and why caused World War II, what was the role of the Soviet Union and other states in it. Putin called it “the true lessons of the 75th anniversary of World War II.”

The promised answer is worth nothing

Putin promised to write the so-called article at various meetings last year, first during the CIS summit and then during a meeting with the country’s businessmen. The Russian leader made no secret of the fact that his speeches were sparked by a resolution on totalitarianism, Stalinism, Nazism and fascism initiated by Lithuanian MEPs.

The resolution adopted by the EP in September, which was also co-sponsored by Lithuanian MEPs, raises concerns about the efforts of current Russian leaders to distort historical facts and justify the crimes of the Soviet regime.

According to the EP, this is “a dangerous part of the information war against a democratic Europe”. One of the authors of the resolution, Lithuanian MEP Rasa Juknevičienė, said during the discussion of this document that the resolution “is not only about the past, but also about the future, the young generation, so that this story will never happen again and the remaining divisions of Europe disappear forever. “

In his article, Putin lamented that the EP resolution “seeks to destroy the post-war world order, which was a matter of honor and responsibility for the representatives of the countries that voted in favor of this false resolution.” The EP resolution also purportedly seeks to deny the conclusions of the Nuremberg tribunal and the efforts of the international community to establish international institutions.

It is true, President of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania Prof. Dainius Žalimas, who wrote and defended his dissertation “The restoration of the independence of the Republic of Lithuania in 1990. March 11 international legal bases and consequences” has indicated that it is in the conclusions from the Nuremberg tribunal that you can see statements that contradict Putin himself.

According to D. Žalimas, the Nuremberg court, citing Austria’s view that the victim’s consent to the assault means nothing, refutes the arguments in Russia that they did not fire on the Baltic states.

Putin admitted that the Kremlin was lying

The occupation of the Baltic States is one of the themes of Putin’s article. Beginning with the 1938 Munich Conciliation, which determined the fate of Czechoslovakia, Putin compared this agreement between Britain, France, Italy, and Nazi Germany with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which determined the fate of the Baltic states and Poland. Both the West and Poland are responsible for provoking the war, as it tried to reach an agreement with the Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler before it started, and the USSR allegedly only tried to delay the war, which was supposedly the essence of the Molotov Pact. -Ribbentrop.

“It is unfair to say that Nazi Minister Ribbentrop’s two-day visit to Moscow was the main cause of World War II.

All the great countries are, in a sense, responsible for its beginning. Each of them has made fatal mistakes, arrogantly believing that they will deceive each other, that they will unilaterally secure the benefits and avoid a global catastrophe, “Putin blamed cautiously, noting that he did not want to be a judge or blame and justify anyone. academics and scientists from different countries.

“We all need truth and objectivity. I have always encouraged my colleagues to develop a calm, open and trust-based dialogue, to look at the common past in a self-critical and impartial way,” said Putin, affirming that the USSR is it was forced to occupy Poland only because the Western allies did nothing.The Kremlin, according to Putin, was allegedly concerned about the lives of Slavs and Jews living on the border with Germany and Poland.

This is an obvious lie, because the decision to divide Poland was made during the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and the final details were agreed upon when the secret protocols were signed. Furthermore, since it was the Soviets who captured the Polish territory who shot tens of thousands of Polish officers, security, police and other Polish officials in Katyn.

However, it is the resolution of the “highly respected institutions: the EP” that, according to him, showed that the partners are not ready to work together. And then Putin returned to the historical statements that also concern the Baltic states, the authors of the EP resolution.

And here, Putin has chosen a very strange interpretation of events, which he himself expressed 15 years ago. At the Russia-EU summit, Putin was furious when asked by an Estonian journalist why the Kremlin could not apologize for the occupation of the Baltic states.

Putin put on a real show: At first he claimed that everything was written in the 1989 Congress of People’s Deputies, which condemned the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which divided the Baltic states in Berlin and Moscow, and then assured that it was It was just a personal pact between Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, which supposedly affected small countries, and even later, already confusing the dates, Putin denied the fact of the occupation of the Baltic states. This time, Putin did not have to speak, but even in writing, he revealed more than the Kremlin propaganda, which denies the occupation of the Baltic states, is trying to lie.

“In the autumn of 1939, the Soviet Union, in pursuit of its strategic military and defense objectives, began the process of incorporation of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. The annexation of these countries to the USSR was carried out on the basis of a contract , with the consent of the elected authorities. This was done on the basis of international and national law, “Putin wrote.

Such recognition that the USSR “began the process of incorporation of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia” as early as 1939 shows that the occupation of the Baltic States in June 1940 was not a spontaneous action, as the Kremlin tried to justify at the time, but at least half a year or even more. aggression process

Officially, in May 1940, the Kremlin began to increase diplomatic pressure on the Baltic states, taking advantage of the difficult situation on the western front, where the Germans successfully crossed the road through France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

Then the Kremlin reproaches, demands, provocations began, and finally Lithuania was charged with allegedly kidnapping Soviet soldiers and an ultimatum was issued to arrest two Lithuanian ministers, change the government and admit Soviet crews. Some Soviet troops had already been deployed to the Baltic States, because in the autumn of 1939, when Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia signed mutual assistance agreements with the Soviet Union, limited Soviet contingents were introduced into the Baltic States, but formally, legally but also in practice, the Baltic States are still independent, led by the governments of these countries, recognized internationally.

Paradoxically, Putin speaks of “uniting these countries with the consent of the elected authorities”: in the case of 1939, the leaders of the Baltic states were not elected in free elections, but came to power through a coup, but they are recognized by other countries, including the USSR.

And when it came to the “elections to the popular parliaments” of July 1940, they were not transparent, legitimate or recognized by the international community, nor the decisions of the “elected” to “bring Stalin’s sun” to apply to the USSR.

Therefore, the recognition that the USSR had already begun the processes of annexation of the Baltic States in 1939 also means the recognition that all the provocations of the Kremlin and all the arguments in the 1940s were just lies.
On the other hand, Putin himself lies in his article because “it was done in accordance with international and national law.”

“From the point of view of international law, the consent obtained by force is not legal, null, does not change the fact of the aggression,” said D. Žalimas. Historiko Doc. Dr. According to Nerijus Šepetis, the very fact of the recurring leitmotif of 1939 as the beginning of the occupation is interesting and has already been seen.

He recalled the biographical book “140 Conversations with Molotov” by the Soviet writer Felisky Chiyev, which records conversations with Vyacheslav Molotov, a member of the famous Nazi-Soviet pact, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR.

In one part, Molotov himself explained how “they divided Pribaltika in 1939”, that Hitler still doubted how this could be explained to the world, but the Soviets were sure that it would succeed. And while this has not really been the case, for example, the United States has never recognized the occupation of the Baltic States, yet in the storm of war in the 1940s, little in the West cared about the fate of the Baltic States.

Putin himself, mocking the occupation of the Baltic states, did not speak this time, as he did in 2005, when he joined the personal agreement between Hitler and Stalin, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact itself, which determined the tragic fate of the Baltic states. . “Unfortunately, that was the reality then,” Putin said in 2005. And this time he reiterated the conclusions of the same 1989 Congress of People’s Deputies: the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact did not reflect the will of the Soviet people.

However, in his article, Putin had already begun to defend the occupations caused by the same fact: that “the Baltic republics have preserved their governments and language within the USSR and were represented in the superior structures of the USSR.”

Not a word about the fact that large numbers of ministers and heads of government in the Baltic States were arrested, deported, or shot, as were tens of thousands of other political prisoners in 1940-1941 alone, when not just government officials. but also teachers and priests were victims of Soviet terror. , officers, thousands of women and children were deported to Siberia.

Not a word about the fact that Russification policy, especially in the Baltic States in 1940-1941 and later, was not a matter of free choice, but a forced order, and “the representation of the Baltic States in the structures superiors of the USSR “was just fiction. In addition, Putin this time began to justify the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact not only because of the 1938 Munich Conspiracy, but also because of the supposed secret protocols of that agreement that supposedly existed, although there is no evidence or even indication of its existence so far . No one has ever appeared.

Condemn, wait, or ignore?

At that time, in Russia, the very fact of the secret condemnation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the aforementioned conclusions of the 1989 Congress of People’s Deputies, has become a target in Moscow.

On May 27, the deputy of the Russian state Duma Alexei Zhuravliov presented a bill, which intends to revoke the decision of the People’s Deputies of the USSR of December 24, 1989 and declare it invalid on Russian territory. On June 9, the Duma’s Committee on International Affairs approved the draft and submitted it for further consideration.

On June 18, a representative of the Russian Embassy was summoned to the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who was deeply concerned about the bill that was being discussed in the Russian state Duma.

Deputy Foreign Minister Dalius Čekuolis noted that the attempt to rehabilitate the two dictators was repeatedly condemned not only by the international community, but also by Russia itself. He also expressed the hope that the Duma has enough wisdom to reject a project that brings today’s Russia to a totalitarian past.

Such an invitation from Russian diplomats on the table is not only Lithuanian, but a coordinated action of all the Baltic states: Russian diplomats residing in these countries also received such protests in Latvia and Estonia.

However, according to N. Šepetis, the question of reaction to Putin’s new article and the lies exposed in it may remain open. Should Lithuania react to Putin’s trial if it is just another attempt to rewrite history and ignite disagreements on which consensus will not yet be reached? And if so, how?

“It’s worth considering, given the ‘president-historian’ status. But the answer should still be as if we were diagnosing the patient. Once those laws have been passed, it will definitely be worth considering the bilateral consequences this could have. , the citizens’ movement, “said N. Šepetys.