The Allies
Even before Nazi Germany capitulated on May 9, 1945, the supporters of the Russian Liberation Movement began focusing their hopes on Western Democracies, namely the United States and Great Britain. The reasoning was twofold: one, that these countries were much closer ideologically to the Russian Liberation Movement than the racist Nazi regime, and two, that these countries were already at odds with Joseph Stalin and did not want communism to spread throughout Europe. Vlasov desired to make a radio address to the Allies during the last month of the war, but this was barred by the Germans. Delegations sent by Vlasov to the allies began negotiating a surrender, and expressed a hope that they would not be betrayed to the hands of the Soviet SMERSH.
The high command of the Allies was in a difficult position, on one hand many officers and generals found sympathy with the idea of the Russian Liberation Movement (including George Patton). On the other hand, they did not want to upset relations with Stalin, to whom they had promised at the Yalta conference that they would deliver all former Soviet citizens for repatriation regardless of their wishes. Consequently, several acts of forced repatriation occurred, such as the Betrayal of Cossacks at Lienz.
Read more about this topic: Russian Liberation Movement
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