Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact Archives

Stalin supervising the signing of the so-called Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact dividing Poland between Hitler's regime and his own, Aug 23, 1939. From left to right: Joachim von Ribbentrop, German Minister of Foreign Affairs; Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs (sitting); Joseph Stalin, Soviet dictator; Vladimir Pavlov, First Secretary of the Soviet embassy in Germany (Image: TASS)

2 minute read

Black is white, freedom is slavery, and Stalin’s invasion of Poland was ‘a liberation campaign,’ Russian Foreign Ministry says

In Putin’s increasingly Orwellian approach to the world, the Russian Foreign Ministry on the anniversary of the introduction…

byPaul A. Goble

4 minute read

The thorny road to the Kremlin’s desired Yalta-2021

In turn, Western leaders, including US President Joseph Biden and his Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, have been…

byThe Jamestown Foundation

4 minute read

Hybrid War

Russia’s “ping pong” policy on Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

Read also: The real reason the Kremlin will never completely disown the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact In late May, Aleksey…

byEU East StratCom Task Force

2 minute read

History of Ukraine

80 years ago Stalin deported German anti-fascist, communist, Jewish refugees to Hitler

The pact with Stalin made it possible for Germany to unleash a military attack on Poland just one…

byEU East StratCom Task Force

Soviet soldiers inspect some of the Polish weapons the Red Army captured during the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland in September-October 1939, as was agreed in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939. The military operations ended with the two-way division and annexation of the entire territory of the Second Polish Republic by Germany and the Soviet Union.

3 minute read

Because of Putin, 2019 will be a repeat of 1939, Muzhdabayev says

No one should be confused by the calendar, Crimean Tatar commentator Ayder Muzhdabayev says. The coming year will…

byPaul A. Goble

Beaming Stalin supervising the signing of the so-called Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact dividing Poland between Hitler's regime and his own, Aug 23, 1939. From left to right: Richard Schulze-Kossens, Waffen-SS officer; Boris Shaposhnikov, Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army; Alexey Shkvarzev, Soviet Ambassador in Germany; Joachim von Ribbentrop, German Minister of Foreign Affairs; Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs (sitting); Joseph Stalin, Soviet dictator; Vladimir Pavlov, First Secretary of the Soviet embassy in Germany (Image: TASS)

6 minute read

Five lessons for today from the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

Some anniversaries are marked because they are so important historically that one cannot understand the present without returning…

byPaul A. Goble

David Low named his political cartoon describing the German-Russian invasion of Poland that started the WW2 - "Rendezvous." The cartoon depicts a meeting by the two allied Nazi-Soviet dictators over the corpse of a Polish defender. Hitler says to Stalin while smiling, lifting his hat and bowing: "The Scum of the Earth, I believe?" and Stalin responds to him "The Bloody Assassin of the Workers, I presume?" while smiling, bowing and lifting his in kind. The secret agreement on the division of Poland that was part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was not yet known, but nonetheless, Low recognized what happened and drew it in this work. (Image: The Evening Standard (UK), September 20, 1939 issue)

2 minute read

The real reason the Kremlin will never completely disown the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

For Moscow, the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and its secret protocols which divided Eastern Europe between Hitler and Stalin…

byPaul A. Goble

2 minute read

‘Molotov is alive and looking for a new Ribbentrop,’ Lithuanian foreign minister says

Speaking in Bratislava yesterday, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius said that “Molotov is alive and looking for a…

byPaul A. Goble

Aleksandr Gaponenko titled his article proposing a new Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in the "Geostrategy" section of the latest issue of the Izborsky Club's magazine with little subtlety: "Eastern Europe as a Battlefield between Russia and the Anglo-Saxons" (Image: izborsk-club.ru)

3 minute read

Izborsky Club calls for new Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact to re-divide Eastern Europe between Moscow and Berlin

The Izborsky Club, a group of Russian nationalist intellectuals that has often been extremely influential in the Kremlin…

byPaul A. Goble

2 minute read

Moscow completely restores and promotes Stalinist conception of WW2, Pavlova says

The Putin regime not only has completely restored the Stalinist conception of World War II but is promoting…

byPaul A. Goble

2 minute read

Putin reaffirms Stalinist version of origins of World War II, Pavlova says

No issue is as sensitive in Russian society as World War II, a conflict Russians call “The Great…

byPaul A. Goble

3 minute read

Ukraine and Poland adopt Declaration of Memory and Solidarity, condemn external aggressors

Euromaidan Press publishes the full text of the Declaration of Memory and Solidarity which is to be jointly…

byVarious Ukrainian government sources

3 minute read

77 years ago, Nazi and Soviet forces celebrated their joint defeat of Poland

Many people forget that Stalin’s Soviet Union and Hitler’s Third Reich were allies in the beginning of the World War II.…

byPaul A. Goble

3 minute read

Stalin’s expansionist designs blocked signing of second Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty

Seventy-five years ago this weekend, Vyacheslav Molotov left Berlin without the second Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty Moscow and Berlin had…

byPaul A. Goble

2 minute read

Today’s Molotovs not finding the new Ribbentrops they hoped for, Ikhlov says

At the end of 2014, Moscow commentator Yevgeny Ikhlov posted on Livejournal a comment entitled “Molotovs in Search…

byPaul A. Goble

9 minute read

More
Opinion

Commemoration and history: Russia’s uncomfortable truths

May is a month for commemorations. Today, May 18, is the 71st anniversary of the deportation of the…

byPaula Chertok

4 minute read

As in 1939, Kremlin said mulling ‘preventive occupation’ of the Baltic states

People of decency and good will around the world have been horrified by Vladimir Putin’s defense this week…

byPaul A. Goble

Erich Koch, former Nazi Reichskommissar of Ukraine, at his trial

4 minute read

Why did Stalin save the life of Hitler’s gauleiter in Ukraine who sent to graves 4 million people?

That the Soviets and the Nazis cooperated even before the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and that Stalin and Hitler were…

byPaul A. Goble

9 minute read

Timothy Snyder: Ukraine is but one aspect of a much larger strategy that threatens European order

In the year since Ukraine’s Euromaidan Revolution, Russia has done much to undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty. It annexed Crimea…

byPaula Chertok