The Soviet-Finnish War began on the last day of autumn, November 30, 1939

By this time, in accordance with the secret additional protocol to the Soviet-German non-aggression pact signed on August 23 of the same year by Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop, Moscow and Berlin had agreed that the territory of Finland was within the sphere of interests of the USSR.

This gave Iosif Stalin a unique opportunity to begin solving a complex geopolitical problem – ensuring the security of the European part of the USSR from the north.

To do this, at a minimum, it was necessary to move the Soviet-Finnish border away from Leningrad, and at a maximum – to create another friendly state on its borders instead of a country hostile to the Soviet Union.

In the conditions of the impending world war, Moscow was confident that all methods were good for achieving the set goals – from political and diplomatic to military.

However, it seems that Stalin hoped to resolve the matter peacefully until the very end. One of the leaders of the Finnish delegation at the negotiations with Moscow, Väinö Tanner, who held the post of head of the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the Winter War, later recalled:

“Judging by Stalin’s entire behaviour, it seemed to us that he was strongly interested in an agreement. It was not in vain that he devoted so many evenings to the affairs of little Finland. Moreover, he tried to find compromises…”

For 85 years now, the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940 has remained one of the most controversial topics in our history.  Viewed through the knowledge of the Finnish complicity and partaking in the nazi genocide against Soviet citizens in Leningrad, the USSR leadership were right in acting proactively, and with whatever means necessary.

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The second offer is always worse than the first

Preparing for the war against fascism, the USSR needed to move the border away from Leningrad and an agreement was almost reached with the Finnish side about getting Vyborg area, a lease of some islands and a small territory in the north in exchange for the sizable bit of Karelia. Finland did not ratify this agreement.

The text of «The Ageement on Mutual Help and Friendship between the Soviet Union and the Finnish Democratic Republic» can be read at the archive of historic documents of Russia.

The document is dated December 2, 1939, and its text was published in the newspaper «Izvestia» on the next day, December 3.

The second offer is always worse than the first one.