" 

 == Misinterpretation of the source == 

 The recent text ""After dismissing Maxim Litvinov as Foreign Minister in 1939, Stalin immediately directed incoming Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov to ""purge the ministry of Jews"", possibly to signal Nazi Germany that the USSR was ready for non-aggression talks."" is not fully supported by the source. The source (Resis) states: 
 ::""There is, however, another element of domestic politics in the dismissal of Litvinov and many of his colleagues. Decades later, Molotov recounted that when he had taken 
 over the foreign affairs commissariat, Stalin had said to him: 'Purge the ministry of Jews'. Recalling Stalin's order, Molotov commented: 'Thank God for these words! 
 Jews formed an absolute majority in the leadership and among the ambassadors. It wasn't good. Latvians and Jews .... And each one drew a whole crowd of his people 
 along with him. Moreover, they regarded my arrival in office with condescension and jeered at the measures I began to implement ...' . Absurdly denying any anti-semitism 
 on the part of Stalin, Molotov held that this purge was designed to bring more ethnic Russians into top positions.""(The Fall of Litvinov: Harbinger of the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact Author(s): Albert Resis Source: Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Jan., 2000), pp. 33-56) 

 I remove ""possibly to signal Nazi Germany that the USSR was ready for non-aggression talks"".  "