Soviet Army soldiers sit in their tanks in front of the Czechoslovak radio station building in central Prague, August 21, 1968. REUTERS/Libor Hajsky Acquire license rights
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the Soviet Union’s decision to send tanks to Hungary and Czechoslovakia to crush mass protests during the Cold War was a mistake.
“It was a mistake,” Putin said when asked about the perception of Russia as a colonial power because of Moscow’s decision to send tanks to Budapest in 1956 and Prague in 1968.
“It is not right to do anything in foreign policy that harms the interests of other peoples,” said Putin, who in 2022 sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine, triggering the largest ground war in Europe since World War II.
Putin said the United States was making the same mistakes as the Soviet Union. He said Washington “has no friends, only interests.”
The Hungarian uprising of 1956 was crushed by Soviet tanks and troops. At least 2,600 Hungarians and 600 Soviet soldiers died in the fighting.
The Prague Spring of 1968 ended when Soviet-led Warsaw Pact forces invaded the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. According to Czech historians, around 137 Czechs and Slovaks died as a result of the invasion.
Written by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Mark Trevelyan
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.