Why didn't the USSR trust Britain and France

• During WWI Russia had been allies with Britain and France. Hitler had made many speeches about how Russians were genetically inferior to Germans, he'd murdered and imprisoned Communists and promised to destroy Communism
• Stalin joined the League of Nations in 1934, but witnessed how weak it was in the Manchurian, Abyssinian and Rhineland crises. He lost faith in the League's ability to protect Russia from Hitler's threats
• In 1934 the USSR and France had signed an agreement stating that France would protect Russia from German invasion. But when Hitler remilitarised the Rhineland in 1936 France did nothing. If the French wouldn't stop an act of aggression on their doorstep then the USSR couldn't be sure they would do anything to protect anyone else
• Britain and France had followed a policy of appeasement towards Germany in the 1930s. One of their justifications for this was that Hitler could act as a barrier against Communism, so should be allowed to rearm.
• In 1938 the Allies signed the Munich Agreement with Hitler. Stalin wasn't invited or consulted. He lost any faith he had left in these nations
• Lord Halifax, the foreign minister, and Chamberlain both hated Communism, so when Stalin first invited them to Russia for talks they declined. Then when the situation in Czechoslovakia worsened, the British decided they did need the USSR on their side after all. In April 1939 British diplomats were sent to the USSR in the hope of agreeing an alliance. They were led by a man named Reginald Drax. He travelled by boat, which was much slower than travelling by plane. This made it look like the British didn't feel that the meeting was important. When he arrived, Drax had no authority to decide anything and had to keep referring issues back to London, and the meetings dragged on with very little being decided. Halifax also questioned how powerful the USSR's military was
• The Polish people knew that the Russians hated them and wanted their territory back, so they said that they wouldn't allow Russian troops to be stationed in Poland to defend them from Nazi invasion. This added to the culture of mistrust between Russia and the Allies
• Hitler sent Ribbentrop, one of his most senior Nazis, to meet with Stalin. Compared to Britain and France ignoring him in Munich, Hitler seemed to respect and value Stalin