WHEREAS the Russian Federation is inviting world leaders to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazism on May 9, 2005;



WHEREAS May 9th, 1945 is generally accepted as the first day of the “Cold War” whereby the U.S.S.R. posed a continual, intentional and dangerous threat to the security and freedom of the peaceful democratic nations of the world;



WHEREAS the Russian Federation claims that the U.S.S.R. made the most important contribution, compared to the Allies of the time, in this victory;



WHEREAS the Russian Federation has not acknowledged the U.S.S.R.’s collusion with Nazi Germany in invading and occupying most of eastern and central Europe through the “Treaty of Non-Aggression Between Germany and the U.S.S.R. and the Secret Additional Protocol, 23 August, 1939” (the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact);



WHEREAS the Russian Federation, as the recognized successor to the U.S.S.R. refuses to accept culpability for subjugating and coercively controlling most of the nations and peoples of eastern and central Europe for 50 years;



WHEREAS the Russian Federation is trivializing the Stalinist and post Stalinist crimes against subjugated peoples which includes Russians;



WHEREAS the Russian Federation refuses to condemn those responsible and compensate victims;



WHEREAS the U.S.S.R. denied legitimate self-determination to numerous peoples and nations of eastern and central Europe for nearly 50 years;



WHEREAS the Russian Federation is deliberately equating the concept of victory with “liberation” and rejecting any notion of the U.S.S.R.’s aggression against and the occupation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania;



WHEREAS the Russian Federation’ s consistent distortion of historical truth is the primary cause of the general mistrust the peoples of eastern and central Europe have towards Russia and of the consequent tensions in the region;



WHEREAS the blatant suppression of the Mari and Chechen peoples, amongst others, continues in spite of international protest during this victory celebration;



BE IT RESOLVED that the Estonian World Council in its general annual meeting of April 9, 2005 in New York City, unanimously condemns the deliberate distortion of truth by the Russian Federation with respect to events following the surrender of Nazi Germany and urges representatives of countries participating in the May 9th victory over Nazism celebrations in Moscow to publicly express their convictions in accurately describing the historical events following the defeat of Nazism and consider it the day the “Cold War” began.



Estonian World Council, Inc.

Association of Estonians in Great Britain • Estonian Central Committee in the Federal Republic of Germany • Estonian Central Council in Canada • Estonian American National Council, Inc. • Estonian National Congress in Sweden • Latvian Society of Estonian Culture • Estonian Societies in Ukraine • Estonian Society of Lithuania • Council of Estonian Societies in Russia • Estonian Club in Czech Republic

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