(22 Aug 2009)
Vilnius, Lithuania - 18 August, 2009
1. Wide of Vilnius town skyline
2. Wide of statue of Soviet worker
3. Mid of statue of Soviet soldiers
FILE: 1940 (Exact Date and Location Unknown)
4. Various of Black and White archival video of Soviet Army entering Baltic states
Vilnius, Lithuania - 18 August, 2009
5. Set up shot of former Lithuanian freedom fighter Albinas Kentras
6. Cutaway of old photo inside Kentras passport
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Albinas Kentras, former Lithuanian freedom fighter:
"I saw Soviet troops invading Lithuania. Shabby soldiers, roads packed with armed vehicles and my brother came to me and I remember his emotional sentence; 'Albinas, there is no Lithuania anymore'."
8. Wide exterior of Lithuanian parliament
9. Set up shot of Lithuanian Member of Parliament (MP) Vilija Aleknaite-Abramikiene looking at exhibition photos
10. Close of poster showing former German Leader Adolf Hitler (left) and Russian leader Joseph Stalin (right) getting married
11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Vilija Aleknaite-Abramikiene, Lithuanian MP:
"They simply deleted us from the world map and after the occupation of Lithuania immediately torturing, deportations and killings started in our country."
FILE:
Moscow, August 23, 1939
++BLACK AND WHITE VIDEO++
12. Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop shaking hands
13. Cutaway of Stalin
14. Wide of pact signing
15. Close of Ribbentrop signing
16. Close of document
Moscow, Russia - 20 August, 2009
17. Set up shot of grandson of Molotov, Vyacheslav Nikonov
18. Cutaway of photo of Nikonov with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Vyacheslav Nikonov, Molotov's grandson:
"He was not all complimentary about the purges. He said there were many, many mistakes done by the Soviet leadership, he regrets many lives. Molotov never considered Molotov-Ribbentrop as something he would regret."
Moscow, Russia - 17 August, 2009
20. Wide of veterans meeting
21. Mid of veterans listening
22. Close of war medals
23. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Pyotr Gostrig, air force veteran:
"It's a disgrace, both against Russia and for those who talk in such a way. Those people who say this do not know what war is and how many people gave up their lives to defend our beloved motherland."
24. Wide of veterans marching with flags
25. Cutaway portrait of Stalin
26. Mid of man standing with Soviet flag
STORYLINE:
Lithuanians will pause to remember on Sunday the 70th anniversary of the day the Soviet Union signed a pact with Nazi Germany that gave dictator Josef Stalin a free hand to take over part of Poland and the Baltic states on the eve of World War II.
Much of the world and certainly most Lithuanians now condemn 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.
The pact, formally a treaty of non-aggression, was signed August 23, 1939, in Moscow by Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop, the foreign ministers of the two countries.
In addition to the pledge of non-aggression, the treaty included secret protocols that divided eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.
On September 1, Germany invaded Poland - thus igniting World War II - and within weeks the Red Army had marched in from the east.
After claiming its part of Poland, the Soviet Union then annexed part of Finland, the Baltic states and the Romanian region that is now Moldova.
Albinas Kentras was just 11 years old when the Soviet troops arrived in Lithuania.
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