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Putin Travels to Poland to Defend Russian Role in World War II

August 31, 2009  Filed under Ahen  

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Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin travels to Poland today as Russia seeks to defend the role of the Soviet Union in eastern Europe during World War II.
Putin will join other European leaders in the Baltic port city of Gdansk to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Poland, which sparked the deadliest war in history and set the stage for the Cold War division of Europe.
Russia, the legal successor of the U.S.S.R., claims that former Soviet republics such as Ukraine and the three Baltic states are trying to rewrite history by equating Soviet ruler Joseph Stalin with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. The two leaders sealed a non-aggression pact only days before Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, secretly agreeing to carve up eastern Europe between the two of them.
“The first goal of the trip is to counter attempts at revising the history of World War II,” Putin’s deputy chief of staff Yury Ushakov told reporters in Moscow before the trip. “The second is to give an impulse to Russian-Polish relations.”
Ties between the former communist allies have been strained as Poland oriented its foreign policy toward the West after 1989, joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and welcoming U.S. plans to station part of a missile-defense shield on its territory.
Polish politicians have opposed Russia’s plan to build the so-called Nord Stream gas pipeline to Germany under the Baltic Sea, bypassing Poland as a transit country.
Putin will meet with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk following a commemoration ceremony tomorrow in Gdansk, where hostilities began. Putin last visited Poland in 2005 to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.
The Russian premier, accompanied by Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, is also scheduled to hold separate meetings with the prime ministers of Ukraine, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Finland, Slovenia and Croatia. All six countries are key for existing or planned Russian gas pipelines to western Europe.

Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin travels to Poland today as Russia seeks to defend the role of the Soviet Union in eastern Europe during World War II.

Putin will join other European leaders in the Baltic port city of Gdansk to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Poland, which sparked the deadliest war in history and set the stage for the Cold War division of Europe.

Russia, the legal successor of the U.S.S.R., claims that former Soviet republics such as Ukraine and the three Baltic states are trying to rewrite history by equating Soviet ruler Joseph Stalin with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. The two leaders sealed a non-aggression pact only days before Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, secretly agreeing to carve up eastern Europe between the two of them.

“The first goal of the trip is to counter attempts at revising the history of World War II,” Putin’s deputy chief of staff Yury Ushakov told reporters in Moscow before the trip. “The second is to give an impulse to Russian-Polish relations.”

Ties between the former communist allies have been strained as Poland oriented its foreign policy toward the West after 1989, joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and welcoming U.S. plans to station part of a missile-defense shield on its territory.

Polish politicians have opposed Russia’s plan to build the so-called Nord Stream gas pipeline to Germany under the Baltic Sea, bypassing Poland as a transit country.

Putin will meet with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk following a commemoration ceremony tomorrow in Gdansk, where hostilities began. Putin last visited Poland in 2005 to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.

The Russian premier, accompanied by Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, is also scheduled to hold separate meetings with the prime ministers of Ukraine, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Finland, Slovenia and Croatia. All six countries are key for existing or planned Russian gas pipelines to western Europe.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=alSlDK99fqds

 

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