Rüütel in Moscow - II

According to an AP report of 22 January

The notorious 1939 pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that divided up much of eastern Europe is open only to historical re-evaluation, a Kremlin spokesman said Saturday, suggesting that Moscow isn't prepared to support a legally binding renouncement of the agreement.

"At present, only the historical evaluation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact is possible," Dmitry Peskov, deputy press secretary to President Vladimir Putin, told reporters. "There is no possibility of its juridical evaluation due to current realities."

This seems like a familiar strategic ploy in the ongoing saga of Moscow's stalling and prevarication over border-related issues in the Baltics. The trick is to make a grand-sounding announcement ("Nazi-Soviet Pact to Be Revoked") and then follow it up with reservations about "historical re-evaluation". The Western public, which doesn't follow such issues very carefully, is left with an erroneous impression of Moscow's intentions. It seems unlikely that Moscow will ever recognize the truth about the pact - its denial will persist, and it will continue to tell the world that the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States never happened.

(Via scb)

See Rüütel in Moscow