Stalin's Response to the "Iron Curtain" Speech

Mr. Churchill now stands in the position of a firebrand[1] of war.  And Mr. Churchill is not alone…he has friends…in England…[and] the United States…

As a result of the German invasion, the Soviet Union has irrevocably[2] lost in battles with the Germans…about 7,000,000 people.  In other words, the Soviet Union has lost in men several times more than Britain and the United States together.  It may be that some…are trying to push into oblivion these sacrifices of the Soviet people which insured the liberation of Europe from the Hitlerite yoke.

But the Soviet Union cannot forget them.  One can ask therefore, what can be surprising in the fact that the Soviet Union, in a desire to ensure its security for the future, tries to achieve that these countries should have governments whose relations to Soviet Union are loyal?  How can one, without having lost one’s reason, qualify these peaceful aspirations…as “expansionist tendencies” of our Government?