THE CUMMINGS CENTER FOR RUSSIAN AND EAST EUROPEAN STUDIES
TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY

THE INSTITUTE OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY
RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

THE SOVIET UNION
AND THE OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR II
1939-1941

MOSCOW
31 JANUARY-3 FEBRUARY 1995

Presidential Hall, Presidium
Russian Academy of Sciences

• TUESDAY, 31 JANUARY
  9:30-10:30
  GREETINGS
  

  Alexander Chubarian
  Director, Institute of Universal History
  Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia
  
  Iurii Yarov
  Deputy Prime Minister
  The Committee for the Preparations and Organization of Events Commemorating the Great Patriotic War, 1941-1945
  
  Boris Kolokolov
  Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Russia
  
  Gabriel Gorodetsky
  Director, Cummings Center for Russian Studies
  Tel Aviv University, Israel
  
  Aliza Shenhar
  Her Excellency the Israeli Ambassador to Russia
  
  Otto von der Gablentz
  His Excellency the German Ambassador to Russia
  
  Mr. Stanislaw Ciosek
  His Excellency the Polish Ambassador to Russia
  
  Vladimir Kudriavtsev
  Vice-President, Russian Academy of Sciences
  
  Ivan Kovalchenko
  Academic Secretary, Department of History,
  Russian Academy of Sciences
  

  10:30-11:30
  Coffee Break

   

  11:30-14:00
  SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY, 1939-41
  

  Grigorii Sevostianov
  Institute of Universal History, Russia
  Chairman
  
  Igor Lebedev
  Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russia
  Fresh Archival Evidence on Soviet Foreign Policy in 1939-41
  
  Alexander Chubarian
  Institute of Universal History, Russia
  Soviet Foreign Policy in the Autumn of 1939
  
  Bianka Pietrow-Ennker
  Tbingen University, Germany
  Stalinist Concept of Foreign Policy towards Germany
  
  Daniil Proektor
  Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russia
  German Factor in Stalin's Policy
  
  Mikhail Narinskii
  Institute of Universal History, Russia
  The Comintern and Soviet Foreign Policy
  
  Lidiia Pozdeeva
  Institute of Universal History, Russia
  The Role of Propaganda in Soviet Foreign Policy

   

  14:00-15:30
  Lunch

  15:30-18:00
  THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY AND OPERATION `BARBAROSSA'
  

  Matitiahu Mayzel
  Cummings Center, Israel
  Chairman
  
  Lev Bezymensky
  Novoe vremia, Russia
  Soviet Strategic Intelligence on the Eve of Germany's Attack on the USSR
  
  Sergei Kondrachev
  Veteran, Russian Foreign Intelligence Services
  Situation Reports by Soviet Foreign Intelligence on the Eve of `Operation Barbarossa'
  
  John Costello
  Author, USA
  The Evaluation of Western Intentions by the Soviet Security Forces
  
  Gabriel Gorodetsky
  Cummings Center, Israel
  Intelligence Evaluation: A Negative Factor in Strategic Preparedness
  
  Christopher Andrew
  Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, England
  Soviet and British Intelligence
  
  

  ---

• WEDNESDAY, 1 FEBRUARY
  9:30-11:15
  THE FATE OF POLAND AND THE BALTIC STATES
  

  Vladimir Zolotarev
  Institute of Military History, Ministry of Defence, Russia
  Chairman
  
  Eugeniusz Duraczynski
  Institute of History, Polish Academy of Science, Poland
  The Place of Poland in Soviet Foreign Policy: In Search of a New Interpretation
  
  Natalia Lebedeva
  Institute of Universal History, Russia
  The `Fourth Division' of Poland
  
  Indulis Ronis Institute of Latvian History, Latvian University
  Latvia and the Course of Soviet Foreign Policy
  
  Alexander Orlov
  Institute of Military History, Ministry of Defence, Russia
  The Soviet Union and the Baltics
  
  11:15-11:30
  Coffee Break

   

  11:30-13:00
  THE WINTER WAR
  

  Mikhail Narinskii
  Institute of Universal History, Russia
  Chairman
  
  Mikhail Semiriaga
  Institute of Political Science and Comparative History, Russia
  The Soviet-Finnish War and International Law
  
  Ruzanna Iliukhina
  Institute of Universal History, Russia
  The Expulsion of the Soviet Union from the League of Nations
  
  Jukka Nevakivi
  University of Helsinki, Finland
  Finnish Participation in the German Planning of `Barbarossa'
  
  13:00-14:15
  Lunch

   

  14:15-18:00
  THE AXIS AND THE SOVIET UNION
  

  Martin Kitchen
  Simon Fraser University, Canada
  Chairman
  
  Hartmut Pogge von Strandmann
  University College, Oxford, England
  German Economic Interests and the Decision on `Barbarossa'
  
  Wolfgang Michalka
  Militהrgeschichtliches Forschungsamt, Germany
  Ribbentrop's Concept of a Continental Bloc
  
  Evgenii Kulkov
  Institute of Universal History, Russia
  The Soviet Reaction to the Conclusion of the Tripartite Pact
  
  Nina Smirnova
  Institute of Universal History, Russia
  Soviet-Italian Relations, 1939-40
  
  15:45-16:00
  Coffee Break
  
  Silvio Pons
  Gramsci Institute, Italy
  Soviet Foreign Policy and Italy, 1940-41
  
  Viacheslav Safronov
  Institute of Russian History, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia
  The Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact of April 1941
  
  Valerii Vartanov
  Institute of Military History, Russia
  The Military Aspects of Soviet Policy in the Far East
  
  

  ---

• THURSDAY, 2 FEBRUARY
  9:30-13:00
  THE ALLIES AND THE SOVIET UNION
  

  Alex Danchev
  University of Keele, England
  Chairman
  
  Martin Kitchen
  Simon Fraser University, Canada
  British Assessments of the Soviet-German Alliance
  
  Steven Merritt Miner
  Ohio University, USA
  British Reactions to the Soviet Absorption of the Western Borderlands
  
  Geoffrey Roberts
  University College Cork, Ireland
  Churchill and Stalin on the Eve of War
  
  10:30-11:00
  Coffee Break
  
  Sheila Lawlor
  Centre for Policy Studies, England
  The Russian Factor in the Formulation of British Strategy
  
  Georges Soutou
  Sorbonne, France
  Soviet Diplomats and Vichy France
  
  Anita Prazmowska
  London School of Economics, England
  Polish Military Plans for the Defeat of Germany and the Soviet Union, September 1939-June 1940
  
  Oleg Rzheshevskii
  Institute of Universal History, Russia
  Soviet-American Relations: the Origins of the Grand Alliance
  
  13:00-14:30
  Lunch
  
  

  14:30-17:15
  RUSSIA AND THE BALKANS

  Vilיm Precan
  Institute for Contemporary History, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
  Chairman
  
  Vladimir Volkov
  Institute of Slavic and Balkan Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia
  The Soviet-German Confrontation over the Balkans
  
  Tofik Islamov and Tatiana Pokivailova
  Institute of Slavic and Balkan Studies, Russia
  The Impact of Soviet Diplomacy on the Hungarian-Romanian Conflict
  
  15:45-16:00
  Coffee Break
  
  Milem Semkov
  Sofia University, Bulgaria
  Bulgaria between War and Peace
  
  Valentina Marina
  Institute of Slavic and Balkan Studies, Russia
  Gateway to the Balkans: Slovakia in the Geopolitical Perceptions of Germany and the USSR
  
  Leonid Gibianskii
  Institute of Slavic and Balkan Studies, Russia
  The Soviet Union and the Yugoslav Crisis in the Spring of 1941
  
  

• FRIDAY, 3 FEBRUARY
  9:30-14:00
  PREEMPTIVE OR DEFENSIVE WAR?
  

  Gabriel Gorodetsky
  Cummings Center, Israel
  Chairman
  
  Hans-Adolf Jakobsen
  Bonn University, Germany
  The Myth of the Preventive War
  
  Boris Sokolov
  Institute of World Literature, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia
  Did Stalin Contemplate a War against Hitler in 1941?
  
  Jrgen Forster
  Militargeschichtliches Forschungsamt, Germany
  Hitler's Decision on Operation `Barbarossa'
  
  Rolf-Dieter Mller
  Militargeschichtliches Forschungsamt, Germany
  German Economic Preparations for `Barbarossa'
  
  11:00-11:30
  Coffee Break
  
  John Erickson
  Center for Defence Studies, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
  The January 1941 War Games of the Red Army
  
  Shimon Naveh
  Cummings Center, Israel
  Soviet Military Doctrine: The Clue to the Deployment of the Red Army in June 1941
  
  Bruce Menning
  US Army Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, USA
  War Planning and Troop Mobilization of the Red Army
  
  Yurii Gorkov
  Historic-Archival and Military-Memorial Center of the General Staff, Russia
  The Role of the Soviet High Command in the Strategic Planning of the War
  
  David Glantz
  The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, USA
  The State of Preparedness of the Soviet Armed Forces for War in June 1941
  
  Jacob Kipp
  US Army Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, USA
  The Soviet Naval Forces on the Eve of the War