Russia must face up to its past

Seventy years after the outbreak of World War II Russia must face up to its past, writes the conservative daily Die Welt: "Throughout the Putin era ... Russia has continually put the clamps on historical and political interpretations of the former Soviet republics and satellites in Europe. Anyone who talks in clear terms about how badly these nations suffered under Soviet dominance in the wake of the Hitler-Stalin Pact is accused by the Russian leadership of putting Stalinism 'on a par' with Nazism, or even worse, of spreading 'fascist' propaganda. Poland is still waiting for a Russian apology for the Soviet annexation of its eastern regions several days after the German invasion of September 1, and for the ensuing atrocities committed against its elites. True, Vladimir Putin has acknowledged that there are 'good reasons' for condemning the Hitler-Stalin Pact and the murder of 15,000 Polish officers in Katyn by the Soviets. But Putin's vaunted 'new pragmatism' between Poland and Russia can only truly come about if the Russian leadership stops making it taboo to speak of the extent of the atrocities carried out by the Soviet Union and its temporary complicity with Hitler."

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