Mikhail Meltyukhov

a Bar Confederation for Meltyukhov is not a ‘pro-Polish independence movement’ but only an ‘anti-religious tolerance’ one; for a comprehensive study of Polish-Russian relations, there is no mention of Polish–Russian War of 1792 nor of Targowica Confederation. In another example, he claims that 60,000 Soviet POWs died in Polish camps during the Polish–Soviet War, and all Polish POWs were returned safely (this claim has been contradicted by the recent finding of both Polish and Russian historians that for both sides, POWs losses were similar (15,000-20,000); for more on this subject, see Camps for Russian prisoners and internees in Poland (1919–24) and Polish prisoners and internees in the Soviet Union and Lithuania (1919–21)). Perhaps most controversially, the “60,000 Soviet POWs murdered during the Polish–Soviet War” is used to justify the World War II Katyn massacre of ~20,000 Polish officers. Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact is declared non-infringing on Soviet–Polish Non-Aggression Pact and as containing no anti-Polish aspects; Soviet invasion of Poland is termed ‘peace operation’ and ‘liberation’; and main concern of Soviet government during its occupation of Poland was the well-being of Polish citizens (deportations were meant to safeguard Poles from retribution of now-liberated minorities in that region). Nowak also criticizes the work on methodological grounds, noting its reliance of Soviet sources like Nikolai Kuzmin Kruszenije trietjego pochoda Ententy (1958) or Paweł Olszański’s Riżskij dogowor (1969) and near complete omission of any works from Russian authors who would disagree with his claims, as well as ignoring the Polish or Western historiography.

In 1995, he defended the dissertation “Contemporary Historiography on Pre-history of the German-Soviet War” on historiography concerning the beginning of World War II. Since then, he has published several studies, many of which are notable for the critical review of the official Soviet conceptions of World War II. Some important works in this direction are On the Verge of the Great Patriotic War: the Debate Goes on and Stalin’s Missed Chance and “Soviet-Polish Wars: Military and Political Standoff in 1918-1939”.

Mikhail Ivanovich Meltyukhov (Russian: Russian : Михаил Иванович Мельтюхов, pronounced [mɪxɐˈil ɪˈvanəvitɕ mɪlʲˈtʲuˈxof] ), (born 14 March 1966), is a Russian military historian. He is working at the Russian Institute of Documents and Historical Records Research.

An English version of some of his work has been published as “Disputes over 1941” by M I Mel’tiukhov in the series Russian studies in history.

Meltyukhov’s study Stalin’s Missed Chance has also been valued positively for covering Soviet military plans before the outbreak of German-Soviet war in 1941, relying on documents that were previously inaccessible. While the theory that the Soviet leadership was indeed planning to strike Germany in 1941 remains disputed, Meltyukhov’s data has been used by authors who do not support the Soviet assault plans thesis mentioned above. However, some reviewers who agree that the USSR intended to attack Germany, have also criticised Meltyukhov for including pro-Soviet views (justifying aggressions on the basis of Soviet ‘national interests’ etc).

Meltyukhov’s Soviet-Polish Wars: Military and Political Confrontation in 1918-1939 was strongly criticized for bias and inaccuracies by journalist Peter Cheremushkin who works as a lecturer at Moscow State University and historian Andrzej Nowak of Jagiellonian University and Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences. According to Nowak, Mikhail Meltyukhov interprets Polish-Soviet conflicts as “fragments of eternal Western aggression against Russia.” Russia’s (or resp. Soviet Union’s) aggressions “are presented as purely defensive postures”, thus presenting Soviet crimes in occupied Poland “as a ‘peacekeeping mission’” In his 2004 book Nowak lists in detail biases and inaccuracies concerning Polish-Russian relations in Meltyukhov’s book, primarily pointing out that Poland is always portrayed as an aggressor and many instances of Russian aggression toward Poland are ignored.