Attempts by Vladimir Putin, Russia's prime minister, to present a nuanced view of the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland fell flat with his hosts during yesterday's ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the second world war's outbreak.
While Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany accepted full responsibility for the war, Mr Putin was much more careful with his phrasing.
Although he admitted that the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, which opened the way for a joint attack on Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, was “immoral”, he focused on the Soviet losses suffered following the Nazis' decision to break their alliance with Moscow and invade in 1941. He pointed out that many other countries had signed treaties with Nazi Germany in the 1930s.