Office of External Relations
January 29, 2020
The facts regarding who started World War II are only controversial in the Kremlin's alternative reality

THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

Moscow furious after Ukraine leader points out Soviet collusion with Nazis
As Zelensky mentions pact that carved up Poland and started World War II, Putin’s spokesperson claims that is ‘erroneous and offensive’
By AFP 28 January 2020, 4:21 pm 2

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrive for a working session at the Elysee Palace, December 9, 2019 in Paris. (Ian Langsdon/Pool via AP)

MOSCOW, Russia — The Kremlin reacted with fury on Tuesday after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Soviet collusion with Nazi Germany led to the outbreak of World War II.

“We categorically disagree with this statement,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, accusing Zelensky of backing the “highly erroneous” position of Poland on the historical events. [“Position of Poland” – How about the facts? Poor little Putin gets so frustrated when anyone does just accept his fantasyland version of history. RAM ]

The Soviet collaboration with the Nazis remains highly sensitive in the ex-Soviet bloc and frequently crops up in political rhetoric. [ Sensitive maybe but that doesn’t change facts. RAM ]

Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded and carved up Poland in September 1939 under a secret clause of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The Nazi invasion prompted Britain and France to declare war on Germany. [ Ah, those pesky secret agreements, they are so troublesome when they are no longer secret. RAM ]

While visiting Poland on Monday to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz death camp, Zelensky said the Poles “were the first to feel the consequences of the criminal collusion of the totalitarian regimes.”

“This led to the start of World War II and allowed the Nazis to launch the lethal Holocaust machine,” he told a joint briefing with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda.

Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz, where the Nazis killed more than 1.1 million people, most of them Jews.

Peskov said Zelensky’s comment had offended “tens of millions” of citizens of Russia, Ukraine and other post-Soviet states that battled against Nazi troops. [ Putin’s mouthpiece needs to be careful. May 1 st is just over 3 months away when Putin will have his military extravaganza and want the world to believe Russia won the war while – if past May Day events are any indication – ignoring the “tens of millions” of citizens of non-Russian Soviet states who fought and died in winning on the Eastern Front. It was the Soviet Union that allied itself with Hitler to start the war and only changed sides after the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union. The little Kremlin dictator just doesn’t like that inconvenient fact. President Zelenskyy is quite right it recognizing historical fact. RAM ]

“We do not accept this statement. We consider it erroneous and offensive from the point of view of our grandfathers’ memory,” he said.
Zelensky met Putin for the first time in December at a summit in Paris on resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian parliament’s upper house, accused Zelensky of betraying the Ukrainians who helped liberate Europe and delivering a blow to Russian-Ukrainian ties. [ Maybe President Zelenskyy thinks – correctly – truth has some place in the national memories of the former Soviet states and in any genuine pathway forward. Here, here. RAM]

Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, told reporters that Zelensky was getting increasingly drawn towards ideas of Ukrainian nationalism. [Oh, here we go, the Kremlin narrative of anyone who disagrees with Putin’s creative history and views is – oh my! – a sinister “nationalist. Is there something in the Kremlin water or were these thugs so thoroughly indoctrinated in the KGB schools that they believe all this stuff? Do be cautious though – they have a lot of our so-called “elites” who buy and peddle this stuff as well. RAM ]

Last month, Putin accused Poland of colluding with Hitler and contributing to the outbreak of World War II, sparking new tensions between Moscow and Warsaw. [ Putin is a sick little fellow, one might feel sorry for him if he wasn’t so dangerous. RAM ]


Bob McConnell
Coordinator, External Relations
U.S.-Ukraine Foundation’s Friends of Ukraine Network

Robert A. McConnell is a co-founder of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation and Coordinator of External Relations for the Foundation’s Friends of Ukraine Network. He is Principal of R.A. McConnell and Associates. Previously, he has served as head of the Government Advocacy Practice at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Vice President – Washington for CBS, Inc, and Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice during the Reagan Administration. rmcconnell@usukraine.org
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