Soviet Union*

Which is more than just Russia

Ukraine, Belarus, etc are significant contributors and bore some of the heavy causalities

That is Russia's propaganda at best. It was Russia the one who started the war in the first place, as friend of Hitler. Something convenient to forget.

> It was Russia the one who started the war in the first place

I'm all to shit on stalinism, but let us not jump into absurdities here. The USSR didn't start the war, Germany did. The USSR then feasted on Poland's carrion like a vulture.

Indeed, it would be absurd to attribute to Russia that which was undertaken by the USSR. And Stalin only deserves at most half the credit, the rest goes to Hitler.

Molotov and Ribbentrop send their regards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pac...

Yeah Stalin and Hitler together. Credit where credit is due.

Stalin would object and claim it was Japan that started the war, and he signed Molotov-Ribbentrop because the allies were purposefully giving Germany a long leash and appeasing them and Japan so they could go around thrashing people and become a bigger menace to contain the soviets. Japan and Russia were fighting eachother long before poland got invaded. Molotov-Ribbentrop happened AFTER the appeasement of Hitler. Stalin would argue it’s not a way to make friends with Hitler - but a way to fracture the fascist-imperialist-capitalist bloc while giving the glorious Soviet Union a free hand to liberate the workers. It was an enemy of my enemy is my friend situation.

Realistically, no matter what Stalin did, Hitler was always going to go stomping around Europe, Germany was backed into a corner by debt and spending into doing something to expand the economy, and the Nazis were very ideological about these matters practical concerns be damned.