Kilde: Molotov om deportationer af etniske mindretal
I dette uddrag fra bogen 'Molotov Remembers: Inside Kremlin Politics. Conversations with Felix Chuev' beskriver Molotov, hvordan deportationer var en sag om liv og død, og at der ikke var tid til at undersøge detaljerne.
How do you explain the forced resettlement of entire ethnic groups during the war?
Oh, so we have become wise after the event, have we? Now we know everything, anachronistically mix up events, squeeze time into a single point. Everything has its history. The fact is that during the war we received reports about mass treason. Battalions of Caucasians opposed us at the fronts and attacked us from the rear. It was a matter of life and death; there was no time to investigate the details. Of course innocents suffered. But I hold that given the circumstances, we acted correctly.
Why were the Kalmyks deported during the war?’’
They helped the Germans.