DISINFO: The Soviet Union saw no possibility to refuse signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
SUMMARY
WWII began in September 1939 when Germany assaulted Poland.
The Soviet Union saw no escape from signing this agreement (the “Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact”) to defer from being a target of Nazi Germany’s aggression, as soon as two major European countries – Britain and France – refused to form an alliance with the USSR to stop Nazi Germany’s attacks on European countries.
RESPONSE
A recurring disinformation narrative revising the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and distorting the events of the Second World War.
This message is part of the Kremlin’s policy of historical revisionism and an attempt to portray Russia's role in World War II as non-aggressive. The European Parliament resolution stressed the fact that WWII was an immediate result of the mentioned pact.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) was signed on August 23, 1939. Its secret protocols divided Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. Thus, the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact directly caused the German and Soviet military aggression against Poland in September 1939, which resulted in complete occupation of the country by Germany and the USSR. It was only in the late 1980s, as the Soviet Union was crumbling, that Russia admitted that “without a doubt” the protocol had existed.
Before signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, it was the USSR who held negotiations with Britain, France and Germany. On August 19, 1939, Stalin publicly expressed the need to push Europe to a major war that would become an overture to the "world revolution".
Read similar examples of the Russian historical revisionism concerning this issue: USSR was forced to sign the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, Signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact thwarted the UK’s expansionist plans in Europe, The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact did not violate the rights of the Polish state, the shift of all blame for WWII outbreak at the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact the best example of manipulation of history.