MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/: Polish authorities have undermined relations with Moscow for many years as well as the work of experts seeking to study challenging issues of the two countries’ history, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS on Sunday.
"Warsaw’s representatives for many years have undermined the work of experts and bilateral relations," Zakharova said commenting on the Polish Foreign Ministry’s statement in connection with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remark on World War II. "Aggressive rhetoric and the demolition of monuments to fighters against fascism and playing the first fiddle in imposing the EU’s anti-Russian sanctions are the direct evidence of this."
During his annual news conference on December 19, Putin recalled that the USSR was the last country in Europe, which signed the treaty on non-aggression with Germany, known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Putin noted that the Soviet forces entered Poland in line with protocols under this pact, but earlier Poland had taken part in dividing Czechoslovakia. By the moment when the Soviet troops entered the territory, the Polish government had lost control over the armed forces and fled the country. As the Russian president said, "there was no one to talk to."
In response, the Polish Foreign Ministry voiced concerns over Putin’s remark. In its statement, the ministry noted that Putin’s words "represented a wrong picture of events" and aroused concerns and mistrust.
Russian-Polish experts are working as part of a commission on challenging historic issues in bilateral relations, set up to overcome contradictions over different viewpoints on the events of the past.
