Polish army checks site of alleged tunnel with Nazi train

He told reporters his remarks had not been “sufficiently precise”.

Russia’s ambassador to Poland on Monday backtracked on controversial weekend comments suggesting Warsaw was partly to blame for World War II that sparked outcry.

Poland has to make a choice and decide whether to cling to an interpretation of WWII events or to move forward, while keeping history in mind, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

The ambassador was speaking outside the Polish foreign ministry, after he was summoned over his comments on Polish TV channel TVN24 on Friday.

Hours before the interview aired, Moscow had summoned Poland’s ambassador to Russian Federation, Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz after some 60 gravestones were vandalized in a Soviet cemetery in the Polish village near the border with Belarus, where about 1,600 Red Army soldiers are buried, Reuters reported.

World War II began after Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sealed a pact in 1939 that included a secret provision to carve up Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe. Andreev further added fuel to the fire by stating that the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 was not an act of aggression, but an act of self-defense, according to Fox News. “Poland was therefore partly responsible for the disaster which then took place”, Andreev said.

“Polish policy led to the disaster in September 1939, because during the 1930s Poland repeatedly blocked the formation of a coalition against Hitler’s Germany”. The work is scheduled to run from Monday through Saturday.

“During the conversation it was noted that these statements are untrue and contrary to the findings of Polish and Russian historians”, Foreign Ministry spokesman Marcin Wojciechowski said in a statement. Millions of Poles were killed in the war, reports AP.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Angela Byers said Monday a relative of the serviceman discovered the painting’s background while conducting genealogical research.