From the Secrets of Secret Protocols, a 45-minute film about the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact is all the rage on Russian state TV and the country's web portals. To call it a propaganda piece would be putting things mildly.

Vyacheslav Nikonov, a renowned sociologist and grandson of Vyacheslav Molotov, argues in the film that the Soviet Union was not acting aggressively towards Central and Eastern Europe in the late 1930s. Those claiming so 'extrapolate from the post-war situation,' and therefore 'think ahistorically.'

The film also mentions, quoting pre-war documents from the Polish intelligence, that the Ukrainian nationalist movement leaders met in Galicia in the 1930s with German intelligence officers. This is a well-known fact, but while getting at the Poles one can also give the Ukrainians a poke. This cocktail suggests that the film must have had many authors, more, in any case, than are mentioned in the final credits.

What is the film's purpose? Probably to unnerve us. To provoke Polish politicians, for instance those close to the president, or Lech Kaczyński himself, to make some sharp comment about Russia. Aggressive words from the someone high up in the Polish government would be a perfect pretext for cancelling president Vladimir Putin's planned visit on Westerplatte, Gdańsk, on 1 September.

Perhaps the point is only to cause an uproar in the Polish press. To provoke angry comments from scandalised commentators and calls for the government to react sharply, which can always be sold to the public in Russia as proof of the Poles' inborn Russophobia.

It is worth remembering that this is just a TV film. Produced and broadcast by the state TV, but not an official position of the Russian government. So there is no reason to react too sharply. Let historians and press commentators speak. Let Sławomir Dębski, director of the Polish Institute of International Affairs, whose comments have been obviously manipulated in the Russian film, speak. But the president, the ministers, and the political parties should keep their cool.

Russia's official position on the outbreak of World War II and perhaps also the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact will be presented on 1 September by Vladimir Putin. It may prove milder than the primitive television propaganda for the ordinary mortals. But it cannot be ruled out that Mr Putin will reiterate the film's theses. This would be unpleasant for us but would really bear testimony about Russia. Not only in the eyes of the Poles but also the world, such as chancellor Angela Merkel. Western intellectuals, historians, politicians would see with their own eyes how Russia is trying to distort history. How it is unable to confront its Stalinist past even though 56 years have passed since the tyrant's death. It is Russia that will shoot herself in the foot if its leaders start repeating the film's arguments about the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact. As for us, we shouldn't allow ourselves to be provoked by those who are defending the Stalinist vision of Russia's history as if their life depended on it.

Source: Gazeta Wyborcza