(31 Aug 2009)
AP archive - no restrictions - June 1940
1. Various shots Soviet troops crossing border into Estonia
Moscow, Russia - August 18
2. Wide of presser
3. Cutaway press
4. Mid Sotskov holds up documents
5. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Retired Maj. Gen.Lev Sotskov, former intelligence officer
"We all have a titanic struggle to rebuff all those attempts at falsifying history from the pre-war and war period. And it is a huge task".
AP Archive - no restrictions - August 23 1929
6. Wide Molotov greets von Ribbentrop in the Kremlin
7. Cutaway Stalin watches
8. Wide Molotov signs Pact
9. Mid von Ribbentrop signs pact
10. Mid wax poured onto Pact
11. Cutaway Stalin smiles
Moscow, Russia - August 19
12. Wide set up Vyacheslav Nikonov
13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Vyacheslav Nikonov, political analyst and grandson of Molotov
"For the Soviet Union this Pact, which was a non-aggression Pact, was the only possibility to solve the issue where the German forces stop after they attack Poland. So I don't think there was much of an alternative for the Soviet Union at this point."
AP archive - no restrictions - June 1940
14. Various shots Soviet troops marching through Tallinn
Vilnius, Lithuania - August 19
15. Wide set up Albinas Kentras
16. Cutaway Albinas Soviet passport
17. B/w photo Kentras in uniform, courtesy Kentras
18. SOUNDBITE: (English) Albinas Kentras, former Lithuanian freedom fighter and activist
"We kill you or you say where your friends are in the forest. I was looking at the barrels of the guns calmly. We were not afraid to die for Lithuania."
19. Wide monument to victims of Stalinism
20. Wide Museum of Occupation, former Soviet KGB Headquarters
21. Mid pan names of those who were killed by the Soviets
22. Set up Vilija Aleknaite-Abramikiene
23. Close up poster of Stalin and Hitler
24. Wide Vilija Aleknaite-Abramikiene sits in parliament chamber
25. SOUNDBITE: (English) Vilija Aleknaite-Abramikiene, Lithuanian MP
"What makes me pain is that student books, books for pupils in history in Russia are giving excuse, or for all such crimes. It makes Russian policy dangerous I think."
Moscow, Russia - August 15
26. wide interior bookstore
27. Wide people looking at school textbooks
28. Close up history textbook
29. Mid pan history textbooks
30. VOX POP: (Russian) Mikhail Shtrebel, economics student
"Children should know the truth about what really happened, so it's right that they learn the Russian view of events. They need to remember their grandparents and great uncles who fought and understand what really happened."
Moscow, Russia - August 18
31. Mid of Sotskov signing copies of book
32. Close up signing
33. Mid people queueing with book
34. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Retired Maj. Gen.Lev Sotskov, former intelligence officer
"If the Baltics don't like their own history, they should go see a psychiatrist. You can't rewrite history. It is what it was. The Soviet Union did not attack the Baltic countries. They joined the Soviet Union themselves. It was the will of their peoples, the result of elections."
Vilnius, Lithuania - August 19
35. Wide bridge with statues
36. Close up Soviet worker statue
37. Close up Soviet soldier statue
38. Wide people walk past Soviet soldier statue
LEADIN
Seventy years ago the Soviet Union signed a pact with Nazi Germany that gave dictator Joseph Stalin a free hand to take over part of Poland and the Baltic states on the eve of World War II.
Most of the world now condemns the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, but Russia has mounted a new defence of the 1939 treaty as it seeks to restore some of its now-lost sphere of influence.
STORYLINE
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
