Putin blames Poland for starting WWII

From the official Kremlin site:

"Valdai Discussion Club meeting

Vladimir Putin took part in the plenary session of the 22^nd annual meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club.

October 2, 2025

 

...Vladimir Putin: You know, Piłsudski was such a figure – he harboured hostility towards Russia, and so forth – and under his leadership, guided by his ideas, Poland committed many errors prior to the Second World War. After all, Germany proposed resolving the Danzig and Danzig Corridor matters peacefully – Poland’s leadership at the time categorically refused and ultimately became Nazism’s first victim..."

 

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Putin has blamed Poland for starting WWII many times before, this is just the most recent case. Because Putin thinks and acts so much like Hitler - even starting his own "Lebensborn project" by mass kidnapping of Ukrainian children - he is naturally inclined to excuse Hitler, though he loves to call all his opponents and victims Fascists and Nazis. And because he claims that Ukraine is guilty for the war because of not giving him the territories he wants, he blames Poland for the same "crime".

 

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Update: Russian oppositionary Igor Eidman thinks the same. Below is his opinion in the Obozrevatel: 

 

Putin subconsciously feels like the new Hitler News.  

 

October 8, 2025 

 

Putin: "Poland made many mistakes before World War II. After all, Germany offered them a peaceful resolution to the issue of Danzig and the Danzig Corridor. The Polish leadership of the time categorically refused, and, ultimately, [Poland] fell first victim to Nazi aggression." 

 

This statement by Putin falls under the Russian Criminal Code's article on the rehabilitation of Nazism. It follows that Hitler wanted a peaceful resolution to the territorial dispute with Poland, but the foolish Poles refused and are themselves to blame for the subsequent aggression. Thus, Putin absolves the Nazis of responsibility for the outbreak of World War II and shifts it to Poland. What is this if not the rehabilitation of Nazism? 

 

Hitler claimed exactly the same thing, attempting to absolve himself of blame for starting the war. Incidentally, Germany's responsibility, not Poland's, is established by the decision of the Nuremberg Trials, which Russia so often cites.

Putin subconsciously sees himself as a new Hitler, launching an aggressive war against a neighboring state with the goal of annexing it. Therefore, he tries to deflect blame from his historical predecessor, thereby justifying his own actions. 

 

Putin and Hitler are twin brothers. By justifying Hitler's aggression, Putin justifies himself. By blaming the intransigence of the Poles for Hitler's aggression, he is effectively blaming Ukraine's intransigence for his own aggression. 

 

In fact, Poland (incidentally, by no means the "first victim of Nazi aggression"), with the recent example of Czechoslovakia before its eyes, understood that by handing over the Polish Corridor to Hitler, it would only encourage him to further conquests. Appeasing aggressors has never led to anything good. First, they demand the Sudetenland, and once they have it, they come for the entire country. Understanding this, Ukraine has no intention of giving in to Putin."