Russia may annul WWII Nazi pact

Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared to renounce a notorious 1939 pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that divided up much of eastern Europe between the two powers, Estonia's president said Thursday. Speaking on Estonian national broadcaster Eesti Raadio after meeting at the Kremlin with Putin, President Arnold Ruutel said the Russian president had told him he would renounce the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. "He said that Russia as the legal successor of the Soviet Union supports annulling the pact and considers this the right thing to do," Ruutel said. "I believe it's very important for us and the Russian society to note that Russia has done this." A statement released by the Kremlin said the two leaders discussed the May celebrations in Moscow to mark the 60th anniversary of the Nazi defeat in World War II, but made no mention of the pact. Kremlin spokespeople refused to comment. The 1939 nonaggression pact named for Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov was signed in secret and carved much of Eastern Europe up between the two countries, including the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which were placed under the Soviet sphere of control.