Vladimir Putin says there was nothing wrong with Soviet Union's pact with Adolf Hitler's Nazi German

[muriel_volestrangler]

80. No, Stalin used the pact with Hitler to take Bessarabia and occupy the Baltic states

This part here is a complete misunderstanding of what Stalin did before 1941: " Stalin did NOT attack his Eastern European neighbors, but only occupied them as part of the war Stalin committed to defeat Hitler AFTER Hitler had attacked Russia." Here's the reality:

The occupation of the Baltic states refers to the military occupation of the three Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania—by the Soviet Union under the auspices of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on 14 June 1940[1][2] followed by their incorporation into the USSR as constituent republics, unrecognised internationally by most countries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Baltic_states

The Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina was the military occupation of the formerly Romanian regions of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and Hertza by the Soviet Red Army during June 28 – July 4, 1940. These regions, with a total area of 50,762 km2 (19,599 sq mi) and a population of 3,776,309 inhabitants, were subsequently incorporated into the USSR.[1][2]

The Soviet Union had planned to accomplish the annexation with a full-scale invasion, but the Romanian government, responding to a Soviet ultimatum delivered on June 26, agreed to withdraw from the territories in order to avoid a military conflict. Germany, which had acknowledged the Soviet interest in Bessarabia in a secret protocol to the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, had been made aware prior to the planned ultimatum on June 24, but had not informed the Romanian authorities, nor were they willing to provide support.[3] The fall of France, a guarantor of Romania's borders, on 22 June, is considered an important factor in the Soviet decision to issue the ultimatum.[4]

On August 2, 1940, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed as a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, encompassing most of Bessarabia, as well as a portion of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, an autonomous republic of the Ukrainian SSR located on the left bank of the Dniester (nowadays, the breakaway Transnistrian state). The Hertza region, and the regions inhabited by Slavic majorities (Northern Bukovina, Northern and Southern Bessarabia) were included in the Ukrainian SSR. The Soviet administration was marked by a series of campaigns of political persecution, including arrests, deportations to labour camps, and executions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_occupation_of_Bessarabia_and_Northern_Bukovina

And Stalin continued to work closely with Hitler - trade to get Germany the materials that Britain's naval blockade stopped it importing by sea:

The 1940 German-Soviet Commercial Agreement (also known as Economic Agreement of February 11, 1940, Between the German Reich and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) was an economic arrangement between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed on February 11, 1940 by which the Soviet Union agreed in period from February 11, 1940 to February 11, 1941, in addition to the deliveries under German–Soviet Commercial Agreement, signed on August 19, 1939 deliver the commodities (oil, raw materials and grain) to the value of 420 to 430 million Reichsmarks. In the period February 11, 1941, to August 11, 1941, there shall be delivered to Germany, likewise in addition to the deliveries provided for in the Credit Agreement of August 19, 1939, commodities to the value of 220 to 230 million Reichsmarks. In payment for the Soviet deliveries, Germany shall supply an own products (war materiel; machinery and technologies; raw materials).

Secret amendment to the Agreement suggest a parties negotiations in regards to the purchase by the Soviet Union of metals and other goods in third countries and to the sale of these metals and goods to Germany. Later also was negotiated a policy of the transit through Soviet territory a third countries commodities purchased by Germany.

The countries followed up the agreement and resolved other issues with the January 10, 1941 German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German%E2%80%93Soviet_Commercial_Agreement_%281940%29

They even considered the Soviet Union joining the Axis Pact:

In October and November 1940, German–Soviet Axis talks occurred concerning the Soviet Union's potential entry as a fourth Axis Power. The negotiations included a two-day Berlin conference between Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, Adolf Hitler and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, followed by both countries trading written proposed agreements. Germany never responded to a November 25, 1940, Soviet proposal, leaving the negotiations unresolved

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German%E2%80%93Soviet_Axis_talks

You think the 1939 pact is 'defendable'. Remember, the secret protocol proposed dividing up Poland between the USSR and Nazi Germany. It pointed out the USSR's desires for Bessarabia, and to have the Baltic states and Finland under its control. It shows Stalin has long term plans to annex independent countries to the USSR, and to do it in concert with Germany taking most of Poland, and he started doing it, maintaining friendly relations and trade with Germany, until Hitler turned on him.