Putin Found the Right Words in Gdansk

[FarCenter]

Russian President Vladimir Putin helped ease tensions with Poland by giving a conciliatory speech at Tuesday's ceremony in Gdansk to mark the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II, German commentators said. The event had been overshadowed by a dispute between Russia and Poland over the causes of the war and Stalin's crimes.

Tuesday's ceremonies in the Polish port city of Gdansk to mark the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II on Sept. 1, 1939 had been clouded by a historical debate between Russia and Poland about the causes of the conflict in which 60 million people died.

Germany's responsibility for the war is undisputed. But the Poles and other former Soviet satellite states want Russia to atone for Stalin's collusion with Nazi Germany in the non-aggression pact that freed Hitler's hand to invade Poland. Seventeen days after Nazi Germany marched in from the west, the Soviet Union annexed the east of Poland under a secret deal between Hitler and Stalin to carve up the country and other parts of eastern Europe. Poland has also long been seeking a Russian apology for the Soviet massacre of thousands of Polish officers in Katyn Forest in 1940.

<SNIP>
"It is necessary to understand that any cooperation with extremists -- that is, with the Nazis and their henchmen if we talk of World War II -- whatever the motives, leads to tragedy," Putin said.

<SNIP>
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,646547,00.html