Seventy years ago today, the Soviet Union and Finland signed a peace treaty to end the Winter War of 1939-1940. This war had long remained a blank spot in Soviet history. The official version of the war was Finland's hostile policy towards Moscow.
Actually, the relations between the Soviet Union and Finland were much more difficult. The WW II had already begun by that time, and small Finland, which had become independent from Russia only two decades before that, was afraid of its powerful neighbor and was ready to resort to anything to protect if sovereignty. The Soviet Union was viewed as almost the only threat to the Finnish security. At the same time, Moscow viewed Finland as a springboard for German attack on the Soviet Union for the border lay just 30 kilometers from Leningrad. The Soviet politicians and military commanders wanted to move the border. And this could be done only by means of force. According to the official version, the war broke out after a border incident was reported which resulted in the deaths of several border guards. Some historians say the shelling was carried out from the Soviet side, while others claim it was a Finnish artillery attack.
The Soviet Union failed to make that war little and victorious: strong frosts and poor support of the troops led to heavy losses on both sides. The war took the lives of more than 90,000 soldiers and officers in the Soviet and the Finnish army. Everything ended on March 12, 1940, with the Soviet breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line. Fearing occupation and annexation to the Soviet Union, the Finnish government agreed to sign a truce. Although Moscow could not view this as absolute victory, its major goal was achieved: the border was moved westward from Leningrad to another 120 kilometers. First, the People's Government of Finland under the leadership of Otto Kuusinen (which was formed by the Soviet Union during the war) did not receive any support. Secondly, the fact that Moscow gained more territory from that war, made Finland seek cooperation with Germany, and after 1941 Berlin could view Helsinki as an ally. Historians have different interpretations of those events. Some of them say that several western countries wanted to use the Winter War to provoke Germany to attack the Soviet Union. They thought it would make the two powerful states weaker.
A senior research worker for the Institute of the Russian History, Yelena Rudaya, told the VOR:
"The Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940 was a tragedy for both states. But it marked the beginning of that kind of relations between countries which in the postwar world has been called ‘special relations".
Professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Lev Voronkov, agrees with his colleague:
"A difficult process of postwar settlement resulted in the 1948 Soviet-Finnish Treaty of Friendship, Co-Operation and Mutual Assistance. This document proved that the sides had learned all lessons from that war".
And these lessons Russia and Finland had learnt, lay the basis for the present-day friendly relations between the neighbors. Today Moscow and Helsinki see eye to eye on many key issues of the European and global policies.
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