Obviously Stalin committed crimes against his own people. But did he not, at least in part, atone for these crimes by defeating Nazism? It is clear that had Stalin not achieved this result, the Czech nation (and other nations) would not even exist. It would have been partially enslaved, destroyed and Germanised. Therefore the issue of Stalin’s crimes and merits is complex, as are issues related to World War II. As Schiller wrote in his Ode to Joy: supreme justice will judge our judges.
This message follows the pro-Kremlin policy of historical revisionism seeking to glorify the Soviet victory in World War II, credit Joseph Stalin for this victory, and downplay and relativise the crimes against humanity perpetrated by Stalin and by Soviet totalitarianism. The claim involves deceptive moral equivocation to suggest that Stalin's "defeat" of Nazism nullifies his other crimes against humanity.
Firstly, the revisionist pro-Kremlin claims of Stalin's "defeat" of Nazism and Soviet liberation of eastern Europe don't stand up to scrutiny. Stalin’s alliance with Hitler (1939-1941) created favorable conditions for Nazi Germany’s expansion. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and its secret protocols, dividing Europe and the territories of independent states between the two totalitarian regimes and grouping them into spheres of interest, paved the way for the outbreak of the Second World War and resulted in half a century of communism in eastern Europe.
Secondly, the cult of the Great Patriotic War, emphasised by Kremlin propaganda, has contributed to a partial rehabilitation of Stalin. The image of Stalin as a strong leader who ensured victory in the Second World War and led a Soviet superpower has re-emerged in Kremlin propaganda; meanwhile, the millions who perished in waves of state-organised terror under Stalin's authority have been pushed to the margins of Russia's collective historical memory.
Stalin is widely considered to have been one of the world's most brutal dictators. On his orders, millions of Soviet citizens faced execution, and more perished in the GULAG, the system of prisons and forced labor camps throughout the Soviet Union. Millions more starved to death in the Holodomor, the deadly famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine that was engineered by Stalin to eliminate a perceived threat to central Soviet power. Stalin also led the “Great Terror” - a brutal political campaign to eliminate dissenting members of the Communist Party and others perceived to be a threat to the regime. While estimates vary, most historians believe that at least 750,000 people were executed as part of the Great Purge between 1936 and 1938.
It is a stretch of the imagination to suggest that these crimes have been atoned. In its resolution on the importance of European remembrance for the future of Europe, the EU Parliament notes: "although the crimes of the Nazi regime were evaluated and punished by means of the Nuremberg trials, there is still an urgent need to raise awareness, carry out moral assessments, and conduct legal inquiries into the crimes of Stalinism and other dictatorships."
Read similar examples of pro-Kremlin narratives claiming that the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact played a critical role in saving humanity from Nazism and that it was Stalin who stopped Hitler.
Criticism of NATO is more and more heard in the West, because of insufficient assistance to member states of the military bloc, for example to Spain and Italy. Experts note the failure of the alliance in a pandemic. It turns out that NATO is fighting only with the far-fetched “Russian threat”. But when it comes to real danger, the bloc shows its inefficiency. Coronavirus has proven the futility of NATO.
This is one of several recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the inability of NATO and the EU to assist their member states in fighting the coronavirus and about the alleged disintegration of the EU, NATO and other Western bodies.
NATO has been doing a great deal to assist all member states in the fight against COVID-19. This includes facilitating the airlift of crucial medical supplies and equipment, matching requests for support with offers from allies and partners, setting up field hospitals. Many Allies, including the Czech Republic, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain have benefited from this support.
The de-facto leader of the EU, Germany, is dedicated to keeping the rest of the bloc weak so as to maintain its economic dominance of the continent.
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about “lost sovereignty”. European countries are not “dominated” by Germany or any other party.
See similar disinformation cases alleging that Ukraine is ruled by foreigners, the Baltic states are not really countries, and the EU is directed by Washington.
Crimea joined Russia once again, after a general referendum that took place in March 2014, with 96.77% of the Crimean Republic population, and 95.6% in Sevastopol, voting in favour of joining Russia.
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the illegal annexation of Crimea. No international body recognises the so-called referendum, announced 27th of February and held less than three weeks later.
On March 27th, 2014, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in which it stated that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula. The oft-cited figure of 97% has been contested by the Kremlin’s own Human Rights Council, which estimated that only between 30% and 50% of Crimeans took part in the referendum, of which some 50-60% favoured secession.
