DISINFO: Poland, Ukraine, and the Baltic authorities associate themselves with Hitler
SUMMARY
Historical amnesia, Russophobia and anti-Semitism complement one another. The states and people unwilling to acknowledge the USSR’s role in the victory against Nazism will always attempt to erase the memory of the Holocaust. The memory about mythical “Soviet occupation” unites Polish, Baltic and Ukrainian Russophobes practicing radical ideology. The ruling regimes in the Baltic states and Poland track down their history to pre-war regimes, whereas Ukrainian authorities attribute its ancestry to WWII fascists. All these regimes associate themselves with Hitler, suffer from Russophobia, and promote the idea of “Soviet occupation”.
RESPONSE
This is an attempt of historical revisionism and a mix of groundless claims and manipulations aimed to discredit the Baltic states, Poland, and Ukraine, and to put the so-called Russophobia on one par with anti-Semitism. It is consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about Fascist / Nazi Ukraine, Poland, and the Baltic states and ubiquitous Russophobia in these countries and beyond.
For background, read our analysis: The “Russophobia” Myth: Appealing to the Lowest Feelingsand look at earlier disinformation cases, alleging that Russophobia is the main activity of the Latvian state and that Russophobic Lithuania plans to tear Belarus away from Russia by dragging it into the Western energy network.
This message also denies Soviet occupation of the Baltic states, although it is a well-established and widely recognized fact. On 23 August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression (Molotov-Ribbentrop) pact whose secret protocols divided the territories belonging to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Romania into Soviet and Nazi spheres of influence. The Soviet Union occupation of the Baltic states lasted in 1940-1941 and 1944-1990, it resulted in mass deportations and repressions against local populations.
The accusation of Nazism and alleged association to Hitler is one of the commonly used techniques of pro-Kremlin outlets, as explained in our past analysis.
Read earlier disinformation cases alleging that the Baltic States joined the USSR in accordance with international law and that the Baltic states’ policies equal to Third Reich whereas Russophobia has become a Western value.