The articles of the collection were prepared on the basis of the materials of a joint conference held in Moscow in December 1999 by the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences. The book highlights the vicissitudes of relations between the USSR and Poland in the 20-30s of the twentieth century. against the background of the most important events in Europe, shows Poland's place in the foreign policy of the Stalinist leadership. The authors rely on a solid source base, the latest Russian and foreign historiography, considering the topic from various, sometimes opposite positions.