Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote an article about WWII for the American magazine National Interest.
The article is called "75th Anniversary of the Great Victory: Shared Responsibility to History and our Future".
"The Russian President offers a comprehensive assessment of the Second world war, stating that today, European politicians, and Polish leaders in particular, wish to sweep the Munich Betrayal under the carpet," the editorial notes.
Cause of war
The Russian leader draws attention to the fact that the Second world war could have been prevented, and recalls that one of the main results of the First world war was the creation of the League of Nations.
"There were high expectations for that international organisation to ensure lasting peace and collective security. It was a progressive idea that, if followed through consistently, could actually prevent the horrors of a global war from happening again," Putin wrote.
However, the League of Nations dominated by the victorious powers of France and the United Kingdom proved ineffective and "just got swamped by pointless discussions".
"The League of Nations and the European continent in general turned a deaf ear to the repeated calls of the Soviet Union to establish an equitable collective security system. In particular, sign an Eastern European pact and a Pacific pact to prevent aggression. These proposals were disregarded," the President added.
"I would like to once again recall the obvious fact. The root causes of World War II mainly stem from the decisions made after World War I. The Treaty of Versailles became a symbol of grave injustice for Germany. It basically implied that the country was to be robbed, being forced to pay enormous reparations to the Western allies that drained its economy. French Marshal Ferdinand Foch who served as the Supreme Allied Commander gave a prophetic description of that Treaty: “This is not peace. It is an armistice for twenty years"," Putin wrote.
The president stressed that it was the national humiliation that became a fertile ground for radical and revenge-seeking sentiments in Germany.
"The Nazis skilfully played on people's emotions and built their propaganda promising to deliver Germany from the “legacy of Versailles” and restore the country to its former power while essentially pushing German people into war. Paradoxically, the Western states, particularly the United Kingdom and the United States, directly or indirectly contributed to this. Their financial and industrial enterprises actively invested in German factories and plants manufacturing military products. Many people in the aristocracy and political establishment supported radical, far-right and nationalist movements that were on the rise both in Germany and in Europe," the article says.
Munich Betrayal
Putin also accused a number of European politicians, in particular Polish ones, of trying to conceal information about the Munich Betrayal on the partition of Czechoslovakia, which was concluded in the run-up to World war II. He wondered why this was happening.
"Not only because their countries once broke their commitments and supported the Munich Betrayal, with some of them even participating in divvying up the take, but also because it is kind of embarrassing to recall that during those dramatic days of 1938, the Soviet Union was the only one to stand up for Czechoslovakia," the President explained.
He recalled that the Munich Betrayal, in addition to Hitler and Mussolini, involved British and French leaders. Czechoslovakia was taken apart with the full approval of the League of Nations.
"I would like to point out in this regard that, unlike many other European leaders of that time, Stalin did not disgrace himself by meeting with Hitler who was known among the Western nations as quite a reputable politician and was a welcome guest in the European capitals," Putin writes.
Soviet contribution to the defeat of the Nazis
In the article, the President stressed that the USSR made three-quarters of the military contribution to the defeat of Nazism.
"The Soviet Union and the Red Army, no matter what anyone is trying to prove today, made the main and crucial contribution to the defeat of Nazism," the publication says.
"In the battles for Rzhev and the Rzhev Salient alone from October 1941 to March 1943, the Red Army lost 1,342,888 people, including wounded and missing in action. For the first time, I call out these terrible, tragic and far from complete figures collected from archive sources. I do it to honour the memory of the feat of known and nameless heroes, who for various reasons were undeservingly, and unfairly little talked about or not mentioned at all in the post-war years," the article of the President reads.
"On the whole, the USSR accounted for about 75 percent of all military efforts undertaken by the Anti-Hitler Coalition. During the war period, the Red Army “ground up” 626 divisions of the Axis states, of which 508 were German," Putin wrote.
At the same time, according to him, Russia will always be grateful for the help of the allies in supplying the red army in World war II.
"We will also always be grateful for the assistance rendered by the Allies in providing the Red Army with munition, raw materials, food and equipment. And that help was significant – about 7 percent of the total military production of the Soviet Union," the article says.
Putin also drew attention to the fact that there were no archive documents that would confirm the assumption that the USSR intended to start a preventive war against Germany.
"The Soviet military leadership indeed followed a doctrine according to which, in the event of aggression, the Red Army would promptly confront the enemy, go on the offensive and wage war on enemy territory. However, such strategic plans did not imply any intention to attack Germany first," the head of state stressed.
Information attacks
A number of Russia’s partners are not ready for joint work to establish the truth about World War II, the President noted.
“We all need the truth and objectivity. On my part, I have always encouraged my colleagues to build a calm, open and trust-based dialogue and to look at the common past in a self-critical and unbiased manner”, the President writes.
“However, many of our partners are not yet ready for joint work. On the contrary, pursuing their goals, they increase the number and the scope of information attacks against our country, trying to make us provide excuses and feel guilty. They adopt thoroughly hypocritical and politically motivated declarations”, the Head of the state writes.
He cited as an example the European Parliament Resolution dated September 19, 2019, where responsibility for World War II was directly assigned to the USSR and Nazi Germany. According to his words, the clear intention of such resolution was to provoke a scandal.
“This is also fraught with real dangers”, Putin says.
The President called it unfair that the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is the main reason for World War II.
“All the leading countries are to a certain extent responsible for its outbreak. Each of them made fatal mistakes, arrogantly believing that they could outsmart others, secure unilateral advantages for themselves or to stay away from the impending global catastrophe. And this short-sightedness, the refusal to create a collective security system cost millions of lives and tremendous losses”, Putin writes.
He noted that a lot of fair and justified claims can be made against Joseph Stalin, but the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is not one of them.
“We remember the crimes committed by the regime against its own people and the horror of mass repressions. I would like to remind that the Soviet leaders can be reproached in many ways, but not in poor understanding of the nature of external threats”, the President writes.
He is sure that the Soviet authorities “saw how attempts were made to leave the Soviet Union alone to deal with Germany and its allies”.
“They saw how attempts were made to leave the Soviet Union alone to deal with Germany and its allies. Bearing in mind this real threat, they sought to buy precious time needed to strengthen the country’s defences”, Putin noted.
Declassify information
The President did not rule out the existence of secret documents-conspiracies on World War II in other countries and encouraged all states to provide access to the archives.
“Besides, we do not know if there were any “secret protocols” and annexes to agreements of a number of countries with the Nazis. The only thing that is left to do is to take their word for it”, he noted.
“In particular, materials pertaining to the secret Anglo-German negotiations still have not been declassified. Therefore, we urge all states to step up the process of making their archives public and publishing previously unknown documents of the war and pre-war periods – the way Russia has been doing it in recent years. In this context, we are ready for broad cooperation and joint research projects engaging historians”, Putin wrote.
Without statute of limitations
The President of Russia is sure that there is no statute of limitations for the Nazi crimes and excuse for their actions.
“It is therefore bewildering that in certain countries those who are smirched with cooperation with the Nazis are suddenly equated with World War II veterans”, the article says.
“I believe that is unacceptable to equate liberators with occupants. And I can only regard the glorification of Nazi collaborators as a betrayal of the memory of our fathers and grandfathers. A betrayal of the ideals that united peoples in the fight against Nazism”, Putin wrote.
Yalta’s legacy is at stake
The President highlights the fact that historical revisionism in the West with regard to the results of World War II is dangerous.
“It grossly and cynically distorts the understanding of the principles of peaceful development, laid down at the Yalta and San Francisco conferences in 1945”, Putin claimed.
“The major historic achievement of Yalta and other decisions of that time is the agreement to create a mechanism that would allow the leading powers to remain within the framework of diplomacy in resolving their differences”, Putin added.
He noted that the UN experiences some tension in its work and is not as efficient as it could be, but the organization still performs its primary functions: avoiding wars and global conflicts.
“The calls that have been made quite often in recent years to abolish the power of veto, to deny special opportunities to permanent members of the Security Council are actually irresponsible. After all, if that happens, the United Nations would in essence become the League of Nations – a meeting for empty talk without any leverage on the world processes”, Putin writes.
“How it ended is well known. That is why the victor powers approached the formation of the new system of the world order with utmost seriousness seeking to avoid repetition of mistakes made by their predecessors”, the Russian leader believes.
The system of prevention of major conflicts, established after World War II, should be maintained and improved, the President claimed.
He highlighted that it is the duty of all states, especially those that won the war.
Five Nuclear-Weapon States
Summit of the UN Nuclear Five Leaders will help to find answers to current challenges and threats, the President writes. He expressed hope that this meeting will be held as soon as possible.
“Our colleagues – Mr. Xi Jinping, Mr. Macron, Mr. Trump, and Mr. Jonson – supported the Russian initiative to hold a meeting of the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states, permanent members of the Security Council”, the article by Putin says.
In the President’s opinion, the Nuclear-Weapon states should trust each other for successful negotiations and strengthening security in the world.
“A special item of the agenda of the meeting is the situation in the global economy. Above all, overcoming the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic”, he wrote.
According to Putin, countries are taking unprecedented measures to protect the health and lives of people.
“Our ability to work together and in concert, as real partners, will show how severe the impact of the pandemic will be, and how quickly the global economy will emerge from the recession”, the President wrote.
He noted that it is unacceptable to turn the economy into an instrument of pressure and confrontation.
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Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from RIA Novosti