VILNIUS, Jun 23, BNS – Juozas Bernatonis, chairman of Lithuania's parliamentary Committee of Foreign Affairs, representing the Social Democratic Labor Party of Lithuania, has sent a letter to his German counterpart to pay attention to the Russian Duma's attempts to distort history.

"We would like to have a proper reaction as wide as possible in Europe. Since the Germans also condemned the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact just like the Soviet Union did, we are paying attention to what the Russian are doing now," Bernatonis told BNS.

In his letter to Norbert Rottgen, chairman of the German Bundestag's Committee on Foreign Affairs, Bernatonis informs about the Lithuanian Seimas' recently adopted resolution that strongly condemns the attempts by the Russian State Duma to undermine the foundations of international law and the modern civilization.

"The resolution also underlines that through such systemic historic revisionism actions, the Russian Duma is trying to justify Russia's existing aggressive policy and aggression towards neighboring countries, question the statehood of neighboring countries based on the concepts of "near abroad", "Russian world" and "the protection of fellow nationals", incite distrust among Western communities, divide the European Union and NATO and move to confrontation with the West for decades to come," the letter reads.

According to Bernatonis, the bill, initiated by Russian Duma Deputy Aleksey Zhuravlyov, leader of the Rodina party and being considered by the Duma, to deem the 1989 decision by the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union on "the political and legal assessment of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact" invalid in the territory of Russia would rehabilitate both the Soviet and Nazi totalitarian regimes.

The letter calls on German lawmakers not to be indifferent to the Rusian Duma's "attempts to rehabilitate the cooperation of the Soviet-Nazi totalitarian regimes and rewrite Europe's history".

In 1989, the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union adopted a resolution on "the political and legal assessment" of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact to condemn this document and deem it invalid.

In late May, Russia Duma Deputy Aleksey Zhuravlyov, leader of the Rodina party, registered a proposal to recall that political decision, saying that it "doesn’t match the principles of historic justice" and was adopted "in a year of growing political instability, accompanied by pressure from external forces".

Signed in August 1939, the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and secret protocols divided Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence on the eve of WWII. Soon after the signing of this pacts, the war broke out and the Baltic states and Poland were occupied.

By Jūratė Skėrytė

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +370 5 239 64 16, Vilnius newsroom