Disinfo: USSR was not an aggressor in World War 2, it was forced to sign the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

Summary

All anti-Russian publications have long relied on the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, trying to portray the Soviet Union as an “aggressor”. It cannot be called anything other than an explicit attempt to rewrite world history. No single liberal media has stated how the Soviet Union sharply criticised Germany’s aggressive actions in Europe since 1938 and repeatedly tried to agree on a working treaty to counter German aggression. Nevertheless, England and France refused to take on specific obligations in the event of a German attack on any European state, thereby excluding the possibility of reaching such an agreement.

Disproof

A recurring disinformation narrative revising the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) was signed on 23 August 1939. A secret protocol was appended to the public pact of nonaggression which divided the whole of Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. Poland, east of the line formed by the Narew, Vistula, and San rivers would fall under the Soviet sphere of influence. The protocol also assigned Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland to the Soviet sphere of influence. Vyacheslav Molotov, then head of the Foreign Ministry of the Soviet Union, who signed the non-aggression pact and the secret protocol to it, denied its existence until his death in 1986. In December 1989, a special commission headed by Alexander Yakovlev, followed by the USSR Congress of People's Deputies, acknowledged the existence of a secret protocol to the Treaty between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Meanwhile, Moscow’s copy of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was published for the first time in 2019. Contrary to the statement that there was no alternative for the Soviet Union other than to sign the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, it was the USSR who held negotiations with Britain, France, and Germany at the same time.

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riafan.ru (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 163
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 01/09/2019
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Russia
  • Keywords: Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, World War 2, USSR
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Disproof

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Disproof

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