Russia Tweets Its Own 'Factual' Version of How WWII Broke Out

Russian President Vladimir Putin wasn’t invited to attend ceremonies for the 80th anniversary of the day World War II started in Poland.

But his Foreign Ministry tried to make sure the Soviet Union’s role in ending the war got acknowledged while trying to rewrite any culpabliity of the beginning of the conflict vis-a-vis Soviet Russia's alliance with Nazi Germany.

The ministry tweeted on Sunday: "One may have varying opinions on Soviet policy during the initial period of World War II, but it is impossible to deny the fact that it was the Soviet Union that routed Nazism, liberated Europe and saved European democracy."

The ministry was also keen to dismiss the significance of the non-aggression pact made between Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia in 1939, and whose secret protocols intended to divide up Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. 

The account also tweeted, "Today attempts are being made in a number of western countries to equally blame both Hitler’s Germany and the Soviet Union for the II World War breakout. Many of these countries are turning a blind eye to number of facts."

In another tweet the ministry blamed the "WWII tragedy" on "the international community's failure to create an efficient collective security system, as well as to the criminal appeasement policy."

The appeal for historical accuracy appeared on Twitter as other world leaders attended the events in Warsaw where Putin’s presence wasn’t requested.

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Russia’s leader didn’t get a request to be at the anniversary observances partly because the Soviet Union invaded Poland not long after the Germans.

Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, a day recognized as when World War II began.