September 1, 2009 By Citizen M

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – September 1, 2009

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TODAY: 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War Two – officials meet in Gdansk for carve up of history; Putin acknowledges ‘immoral’ treaty and Katyn suffering; NATO receptive to plans for Russian defense; Stalin’s grandson sues for libel; Other Russia leader detained; Arctic Sea carrying weapons?; five-year anniversary of Beslan.
‘We meet here to remember who started the war, who the culprit was, who the executioner in the war was, and who was the victim of this aggression’, says Polish premier Donald Tusk in Gdansk.  Reuters has a preview on the anniversary service – quoting a poll from Rzeczpospolita newspaper which says that most Poles believe that Russia carries equal responsibility for the outbreak of the war.  Is Putin big enough to say sorry? wonders an article in the Independent.  A conciliatory tone has been noted in the article written by Putin for Gazeta Wyborcza in which he slams the ‘immoral’ 1939 non-aggression pact, but calls it ‘analogous’ to other pacts being made at the time, referring to France and Britain’s Munich treaty in 1938.  The Russian Prime Minister also asserts that future cooperation should not be jeopardised by talk of the past.  Former Polish prime minister Leszek Miller has warned Poland against rejecting Putin’s olive branch (if there is one.)  The Independent is sceptical about Putin’s take on WW2.