European leaders gather in the Polish city of Gdansk today to mark the 70th anniversary of the start of the Second World War, amid an acrimonious row between Moscow and much of Europe over who started the conflict.
The heavily politicised spat has been escalating throughout the summer as central European countries have sought to portray the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact as a key precursor to the war. Russia has responded furiously, insisting that Joseph Stalin had nothing to do with the outbreak of hostilities in Europe, and has even blamed Poland for starting the war.
The spat will overshadow today’s summit, attended by German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, the Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, and the British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband. All eyes will be on Mr Putin, who is making his first trip to Poland since 2005, and has in the past reacted aggressively to European criticism of Stalin’s role in the war and Soviet atrocities. He is expected to give a speech in Gdansk today, which will be watched closely by the rest of Europe. A foreign policy aide said that one of the main purposes of the trip would be to counter false theories about the start of the war.
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