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The Forgotten Victory Parade of the Allies on September 7, 1945

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The allied forces of the Anti-Hitler Coalition held a parade in honour of the end of the Second World War. Parade taken by Soviet troops in Chief Marshal Georgy Zhukov, the commander of the 3rd U.S. Army General George Patton, the British General Robertson and French General Marie-Pierre Kœnig.

The parade was almost cancelled due to General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery declining the invitations shortly before the parade, but at Iosif Stalin’s insistence, took place anyway.

It is known as a “forgotten parade”, as it was mentioned in only a few Western sources, and only showed once in the USSR. The forces of four Allies also participated in another Berlin parade several months later, on the Charlottenburger Chaussee, in front of the Brandenburg Gate, on the first anniversary of the German surrender on 8 May 1946, in the Berlin Victory Parade of 1946. This parade was connected to the inauguration of the Soviet War Memorial at Tiergarten. Soviet troops were not present at the much more widely known in the West London Victory Celebrations of 1946.


Backup at Rumble.
Raw video source on YouTube.
We presented this translation first at our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”.

Word to Georgy Zhukov, “Recollections and Reflections”, volume 2, 1974 edition, translation from 1985, page 427-428

By common agreement the salute was to be taken by the Commanders-in-Chief of the Soviet, US, British and French Forces.

All arms of the land forces participated in the Berlin Parade. It was decided not to call in the air forces and navies as they were considerable distances away from Berlin.

The appointed date was approaching. The Soviet troops carried out a thorough preparation. We sought to invite to this parade primarily those soldiers, NCOs, officers and generals who had displayed particular gallantry in the storming of Berlin and particularly its main strongholds of resistance — the Reichstag and the Imperial Chancellery. Everything was going on according to our agreement with the Allies.

But on the very eve of the parade, we were suddenly informed that for a number of reasons the Commanders-in-Chief of the Allied Forces could not come to Berlin for the Victory Parade, and had authorised their generals to attend.

I immediately put a telephone call through to Stalin. He heard my report and said:

“They want to belittle the political importance of the parade of troops of the anti-Hitler coalition countries. Just wait, they’ll be up to something else next. Ignore the refusal of the Allies and take the salute yourself, all the more so, as we have more rights to do it than they.”

The parade of troops in Berlin was held on September 7, 1945, exactly at the appointed time. Participating were the Soviet troops which had stormed Berlin, and American, British and French troops which were stationed in Berlin in order to carry out occupation duties in the western sectors of Berlin set aside for them.

After reviewing the troops drawn up for the march-past, I made a speech noting the historic merits of the Soviet forces and the Allied Expeditionary Forces.

The Soviet infantry, tanks and artillery marched in impeccable order. A particularly memorable impression was made by our tanks and self-propelled artillery. Among the Allied troops the best-drilled were the British.

About 20,000 Berliners gathered to see the Parade. It was a ceremony symbolising the victory of the anti-Hitler coalition over the bloodthirsty fascist aggression.

And so, the parade became forgotten, pushed out of mind.

In the West, because celebrating the Victory on September 7 drove home the point that it was Socialism that won the battle over its mortal enemy — Fascism, the tool of Imperialism. As Zhukov had said, the West would not forgive USSR for liberating it — it already commenced a new war on the USSR, and this reminder did not fit into the plans.

As for the USSR, it chose to forget that parade for different reasons, one of them being the contempt that the West showed.

The feat of a Russian partisan: how to single-handedly blow up 600 Wehrmacht soldiers

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While we recall the manifestations of Nazism – past and present – let us not forget those, who fought against the Nazis, both at the front and behind enemy lines. The recounting of their feat makes for an inspiring reading!

Below, is our translation of an article by Alexander Neukropny at TopCor.ru. The article was published in 2020 for the 75th anniversary of the Victory over Nazism.

If you imagine the history of the Great Patriotic War in the form of a book, then it will probably be a huge folio in a luxurious cover, gilded and intricately decorated. Inside, anyone who opens it will find not only smooth lines and beautifully designed illustrations, but also huge gaps, mercilessly retouched and rewritten many times, or even “torn out with to the core” pages and entire chapters.

Alas, despite the titanic work of entire generations of both professional historians and amateur searchers (often much more efficient, and, most importantly, impartial and objective in their work), despite the truly reverent and caring attitude of most of our fellow citizens towards the Great Patriotic War, its chronicle still gapes with “white spots”. Forgotten exploits, unrecognised heroes, battles and skirmishes that remained unknown, each of which should serve as an example of the highest courage and steadfastness of the defenders of our Motherland… Sometimes even the brightest episodes of a great epic find themselves in a completely undeserved “shadow”, which some immediately begin to try to fill up with their own vile fabrications. We will recall one of these episodes today.

Odessa resident from Gorlovka

Meet Konstantin Alexandrovich Chekhovich. A Soviet partisan who could rightfully have been awarded the title of “The most efficient saboteur of the Great Patriotic War”. It is no joke to send to hell in one fell swoop, at the very least, a battalion of Nazi scum, or even one and a half (according to various estimates, this Wehrmacht combat unit could number from 500 to 600 units of personnel), and in addition, several dozen representatives of senior and senior commanders, who belonged not only to ordinary army personnel, but also to Nazi intelligence and counterintelligence!
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Organisation “British Union of Fascists”

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Following, is a short publication from the “Two Majors” Telegram channel.

Read also How the Anglo-Saxons Promoted Fascism in the 20th Century and Revived It in the 21st – Dmitry Medvedev and Our answer to NOT-A-Chamberlain, by Maria Zaharova. On Imperial British foundation of Nazism.

October 1, 1932. The “British Union of Fascists” (BUF) was founded in the United Kingdom under the leadership of Oswald Mosley – the largest fascist organisation in the interwar period on the islands. Inspired by Mussolini’s Italian fascism, Mosley quickly established connections with European dictators: he met with Hitler and received funding from Rome. BUF did not simply copy ideas – it adapted them to the British imperial spirit, promoting a corporate state, anti-communism, and anti-Semitism.

Influence on Europe before World War II was significant: BUF became part of a wave of fascist movements, showing that the “brown plague” could take root even in liberal democracies. The organisation popularised militarised marches, black shirts, and propaganda that echoed in Germany, Italy, and Spain. Although BUF never came to power (peaking at 50,000 members in 1934), it intensified the radicalisation of right-wing forces across the continent, contributing to societal polarisation before the war.

In fact, British fascists became a “bridge” between continental totalitarianism and the Anglo-Saxon world.

Today, the ideological heirs of BUF are far-right groups like Britain First, Patriotic Alternative, and the English Defence League (EDL), led by figures such as Tommy Robinson. They have evolved: from outright fascism to “patriotism” with an emphasis on anti-Islamism, nationalism, and anti-immigrant rhetoric. Post-war successors of Mosley, like the Union Movement, mutated into modern parties – from the British National Party (BNP) to Reform UK led by Nigel Farage, who uses Euroscepticism and “defence of British values.”

Against the backdrop of the migration crisis, this intensifies: in 2024-2025, the influx of migrants across the English Channel triggered mass riots. For obvious reasons, groups of enraged right-wing radicals organise protests at hotels, set buildings on fire, and mobilise crowds under slogans like “Britain for the British.”

In August 2025, members of the Homeland Party and similar groups coordinated actions across the country, using social media to incite counter hatred. Migrants in Britain are also quite the Nazis and radicals, just like here. Migration became a catalyst: 52% of Britons believe there are too many migrants (which is true), and the far-right exploits this to grow support, echoing Mosley’s propaganda.

The history of the 1930s is repeating. Neo-fascism is on the rise in Europe. Britain is no exception: migration chaos feeds radicals, while elites turn a blind eye, focusing on personal gain.

Overall, the EU is witnessing an open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic, most imperialistic elements of financial capital, carried out by direct methods of internal terror.

The Nazi Roots of Today’s European Union

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An article by Pål Steigan from October 21, 2025, translated by us from Norwegian.

Walther Funk, Minister of Economics and President of the Reichsbank, during the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. Provided by: Robert Jackson.

There are clear similarities between today’s EU and Nazi Germany’s plans for a Greater Germanic Reorganisation of Europe. This may seem like a drastic claim, but if we read the Nazis’ own plans and compare them with how the EU works, and not least how the EU is developing, it is not difficult to see the similarities.

The most interesting document in this context is a speech given by Hitler’s Minister of Economics Walther Funk on April 25, 1940: “Die wirtschaftliche Neuordnung Europas”.

This was a key speech in which Funk, as German Minister of Economics, outlined Nazi Germany’s plans for an economic reorganisation of Europe under German domination, including the exploitation of resources from occupied countries such as Norway.

The document promotes the idea of ​​a “European economic community” dominated by Germany, with a focus on self-sufficiency, rational allocation of resources, and the elimination of “unnecessary” competition.

These are the key points of the document:
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If you think the collapse of the Soviet Union was good for the people, you should think again

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In the previous publication we saw how Yeltsin was conquering America, on his warpath to destroy the Soviet past. But what future did his flirting with the West bring to Russia? The time to come became known as “The Wild ’90s”…

The following material from FKT – Geschichte der Sowjetunion (History of the Soviet Union), first translated at our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”.

If you think the collapse of the Soviet Union was good for the people, you should think again

In the 1990s, the Soviet Union disintegrated and Russia began moving towards a market economy. However, this transition brought a severe economic collapse, widespread poverty, and a sharp rise in organised crime.

The plundering of an entire country

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the team of “young reformers” led by Anatoly Chubais skillfully facilitated the transfer of state assets into the hands of the so-called “most deserving.”
Of course, this process was presented under the banner of “universal equality and justice.” Conveniently, those who had close ties to Western companies turned out to be the “most deserving.”
For example, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, through his company Yukos and his connections to the Rockefeller family, was on the verge of transferring a significant portion of control over Russian oil reserves to foreign companies before his arrest stopped this process.

Here are the names of the oligarchs who made their fortunes by stealing from the naive Soviets who had just lost their country:

🔴Mikhail Khodorkovsky (Yukos) – connections to ExxonMobil, Chevron, and the Rockefeller Foundation;

🔴Boris Berezovsky – connections to British companies and offshore financial institutions;

🔴Roman Abramovich – dealings with Sibneft and owner of FC Chelsea;

🔴Vladimir Gusinsky (Media-Most) – partnerships with Credit Suisse and European banks;

🔴Vladimir Potanin (Interros) – cooperation with international investment funds and metallurgical companies;

🔴Mikhail Fridman (Alfa Group) – partnership with BP through TNK-BP and offshore companies in the UK and USA;

🔴Anatoly Chubais – supported by the IMF, World Bank, and foreign advisors in privatisation efforts.

The instrument for the “honest” expropriation of the population was the voucher. This document supposedly gave every Russian citizen the right to a small share of state property. Originally, it was said that one could buy two brand-new Volga cars with a voucher. Soon its value dropped to the equivalent of two cases of vodka. The depreciation continued until a voucher was worth no more than two bottles of spirits.

Meanwhile, privatised state assets began to concentrate in the hands of particularly cunning individuals. Thus, Russia witnessed the rise of its first oligarchs.
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Yeltsin declared communism defeated. Forgetting to clarify that there were still Communists left in his own country. June 20, 1992

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Such was the title of the “Independent Newspaper” on June 20, 1992, telling about Yeltisn’s speech at the US Congress on June 17.

It sounded almost like a declaration of opening of a witch-hunt on Communists, as the fascist forces — both domestically and abroad — were preparing to take revenge for the defeat in 1945. What awaited the Russian, Soviet people in 1992, was 8 years of the so-called “Wild ’90s”, with millions dead as a result of poverty and crime, while the industrial and intellectual might of Soviet Union was plundered and shipped to the West, to ensure prosperity of Europe and the USA.

A little over a year later, on October 5 1993, Yeltsin suspended the activities of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and other opposition parties in Russia.

The material is from June 17, posted by the “Vedomosty of the Muscovy State” TG channel. The newspaper article consists of three sub-articles. Below, we are presenting a complete translation of the first two, initially published at our TG channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”. The third sub-article “The visit to Canada was less noisy, but more realistic”, is not that significant despite what the title wants the reader to believe.

The president of Russia conquered America

Washington. The U.S. Congress. June 17. 11:00. The speech of the President of Russia. A triumph.

The speech was very precisely designed for the audience. Perhaps this is the first professionally prepared speech by the Russian Embassy for the country’s leader. The congressmen applauded like children, and only some ambassadors from some African countries greeted Yeltsin’s words with silence. From the speech:

“The communist idol has collapsed. We will not let him rise again on our ground. Freedom and communism are incompatible.” *

“We have stopped military supplies to Afghanistan. We eliminated the distortions in relations with Cuba.”

“We invite American capital to the Russian market and say: don’t be late!”

“The adoption of the law on support of freedoms in Russia by the Congress means more than dollar injections.”

“Irving Berlin ended his song like this: God bless America! I’d like to add: and Russia!” **

Yeltsin was more direct than one would expect in such a high-profile gathering. A man from insecure Eastern Europe felt freer than the lean American establishment. Maybe Yeltsin was even more understandable to the ordinary Americans.

Regarding American prisoners in the former Soviet Union:

“We will look through every document in all archives. If at least one person is alive, I will find him. I will return him to his family.”

At the final press conference at the White House, to the question “Do you think Gorbachev and Stalin did not know about the prisoners?” —  the president of the RF answered — “That’s the thing, they knew. They hid it. But the era of lies is over.”

Judging by the customary questions of Washington taxi drivers: who is better for you (Russians): Yeltsin or Gorbachev? —the former is becoming more and more interesting to the public. The Russian leader is popular with Americans (and especially in an election year) under the slogan: “We want changes!”

Yeltsin woke up the congressmen. The Congress exploded with applause. But this does not mean making a decision on the most favoured nation status for Russia. Boris Yeltsin is an optimist. He estimated the chances of help as 9 out of 10. Bush agreed with the forecast.

———
Notes:

* In this statement, Yeltsin eerily echoed one uttering from Adolf Hitler’s speech in Berlin for Heroes’ Memorial Day, March 15, 1942!

The Bolshevik colossus, whose cruel danger we only now realise, may never again touch the sacred fields of Europe – and this is our irrevocable resolve – but instead it should receive its final borders far from them!

** A video of Boris Yeltsin’s speech to the US Congress ending with the words “God bless America!” has been making rounds on YouTube. This caused ire among modern Russians. As can be seen from the quote above, the video was clipped, and he continued speaking, saying “I’d like to add: and Russia!” However, this clipped video managed to draw away attention from the more important, essential points in his speech — setting the stage for the plundering of Russia.

But he still has to conquer Russia

The results of the Russian president’s visit to Washington, the numerous agreements he signed and his brilliant speech in the US Congress were, without a doubt, one of the main events of 1992 and will leave a deep imprint on the further development of international relations.
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Forgotten History – The Moscow Negotiations of 1939

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On September 30, we remembered the 1938 agreement between Britain, France, Italy and Germany to dismember and abandon Czechoslovakia, and we commented on this Munich Betrayal connecting it to the start of World War II. In August of 1939, the USSR had no other way, but to sign a non-aggression agreement with Germany.

However, in March-April of 1939, the USSR still tried to prevent the looming War, trying to talk sense into Britain, Poland and France, in order to jointly reign in German militarism.

The following material from FKT – Geschichte der Sowjetunion (History of the Soviet Union) is about that attempt (first translated at our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”).

Forgotten History – The Moscow Negotiations of 1939

❓ Was there a chance to prevent the outbreak of the Second World War?

Yes, and not just one. The last such chance was the trilateral negotiations between the Soviet Union, France, and Britain. They were initiated in April 1939 by the government of the USSR.

The Moscow negotiations, or rather their failure, marked a definitive end to the last possibility of preserving peace in Europe.

A brief summary before we go into details

🔽Background

Basically, the start of the Second World War was already preordained in 1935 when Hitler refused to comply with the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles. This event took place on March 16, 1935.

Germany embarked on a consistent course of militarisation. The European countries, victors of the First World War, were content with half-hearted “protests.” The peaceful and naive Western democracies sincerely believed, according to many liberals, that the reorganised and rearmed Reich army would only participate in battles “around the harvest.”

Then followed the transfer of the Saar and Rhine regions to Hitler—of course, the USSR was blamed—the Anschluss of Austria, and finally the signing of the Munich Agreement. As a result, Czechoslovakia ceased to exist.

🔽Start of the negotiations

By early 1939, even the indigenous people of the Tuamotu Islands knew that a major war in Europe was inevitable. This was also clear to the leadership of the USSR.

No state wants to wage war alone. A government’s foreign policy is always aimed at finding allies. The Soviet Union was no exception.

Under the conditions of the escalating Polish-German conflict, the USSR proposed to Poland’s allies, namely England and France, to conclude a joint treaty to protect the Polish state. This format is referred to in historical terminology as Stalin’s “system of collective security.”

On March 18, 1939, People’s Commissar Litvinov proposed through the British ambassador in Moscow to convene a conference of six countries: USSR, England, France, Romania, Poland, and Turkey. The goal of the conference was a joint agreement to prevent the expansion of German aggression. England refused, calling the proposal “premature” and suggested limiting it to a declaration.

❗️Against all odds, the Soviet government managed to organise trilateral negotiations. These began in April 1939. England proposed to the USSR to give Poland unilateral guarantees in case of German aggression. The Soviet Union insisted on signing an official treaty between the countries.

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Facts about the Munich Conspiracy of September 30, 1938

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The material is from Russian MFA Telegram channel, where one can also watch a short facta newsreel.

After a short fact-list from the Telegram post, we re-blog the in-depth version from the MFA’s Telegraph blog.

On September 30, 1938, the leaders of Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and France signed an agreement in Munich on the German annexation of the Sudetenland, an industrial region of Czechoslovakia where ethnic Germans made up 90 percent of the population. Czechoslovakia had not been invited to the talks; it was presented with the fact that its sovereign territory must be ceded to Nazi Germany as a fait accompli.

This disgraceful pact between the Western powers and Nazi Germany went down in history as the “Munich Conspiracy” or the “Munich Betrayal”.

FACTS:

▪️ Following the signing of the agreement between the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy in Munich, German troops crossed Czechoslovakia’s border on October 1 and occupied the entire area of the Sudetenland by October 10.

▪️ The Soviet Union was ready to defend Czechoslovakia, but the Soviet Army had to obtain permission to pass through Poland or Romania. Warsaw, which was interested in getting part of Czechoslovakia’s territory for itself, adamantly refused to support Prague against Germany and prohibited possible flights of Soviet aircraft to render aid to the Czechoslovak army. Romania made every effort to slow down the process as much as possible.

▪️ The Munich Betrayal crowned the Western powers’ policy of appeasing the aggressor. Hoping to avoid a conflict with the Third Reich, they tried to satisfy its growing territorial claims at the expense of Eastern and Central European countries.

▪️ As the world witnessed the collapse of the Versailles-Washington system of international relations that existed at the time, many countries began to cooperate with the Third Reich and fell into its sphere of influence.

▪️The Czechoslovakia crisis became a prologue to the bloodiest conflict in the history of humanity, demonstrating what underhanded plotting and reliance on countries’ selfish interests can lead to, i.e. paved the way to World War II.

The Munich Betrayal

On September 30, 1938, the leaders of the United Kingdom (Neville Chamberlain), France (Edouard Daladier), Germany (Adolf Hitler) and Italy (Benito Mussolini) signed an agreement in Munich sanctioning the beginning of annexation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany. This crowned the appeasement policy which made a big war inevitable.

The Treaty of Versailles of June 28, 1919, ended the First World War and put Germany in a very difficult position. Pursuant to the document, Germany lost part of its traditional lands, its army was substantially reduced, and its defence industry was in effect eradicated. The document also contained a separate requirement on the demilitarisation of the Rhineland. The terms of the Versailles peace treaty were extremely harsh, which had a catastrophic effect on the German economy. The direct consequences included the total collapse of Germany’s industry, overwhelming impoverishment of the population and disastrous hyperinflation.
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Maria Zaharova’s replies to the Finnish President Stubb

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Finnish President Alexander Stubb had the misfortune to show his complete lack of knowledge of history of his own country, and of the geopolitical realities and implications. The spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zaharova, was quick to grill Stubb on the matters of history. Below we present our translations of her Telegram posts, first published at our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”.

Read also: The Art of Timely Betrayal. Why the Finnish SS avoided punishment? and On Historical and International Legal Accountability of Finland for the Occupation of Karelia During Great Patriotic War (WWII) (1941–1944).

Mannerheim, the Executioner

Maria Zaharova comments on Stubb’s 1944 “solution” for 2025

At yesterday’s meeting in Washington, the President of Finland Stubb literally said the following:

“Finland has a long border with Russia and has its own experience of interaction with this country during World War II. We found a solution in 1944, and I am sure we will be able to find a solution in 2025”.

The big question is, did Stubb understand the full hell of his statement?

Let’s dive into history.

From 1939 to 1940 and from 1941 to 1944, Finland was in a state of armed conflict with the USSR.

As a result of Finnish provocations, the Soviet-Finnish war began, in which Helsinki lost. Then there was a short break, and then Finland openly sided with Hitler and declared war on the USSR three days after the start of Operation Barbarossa.

Finland’s allies of Hitler matched him. As the Finnish politician of that time, Väinö Voionmaa wrote: “We are a state of the ‘Axis’ [Rome-Berlin-Tokyo], and also mobilised for attack”.

Finland committed real war crimes, which it itself admitted in 1946 following the trial of Finnish war criminals.

It was the Finns who played an important supporting role for the German Army Group North during the Siege of Leningrad – a genocide of the Soviet people. The President of Finland Ryti wrote to the German envoy: “Leningrad must be eliminated as a major city”.

From hunger, cold, bombings, and artillery shelling in besieged Leningrad, at least 1,093,842 people died, according to some estimates up to 1.5 million people. And these figures are continuously refined by historians and researchers – always increasing due to newly uncovered facts.
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The Moscow Armistice of September 19, 1944 between the USSR and Finland

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On September 19, 1944, the Moscow Armistice was signed between Finland and the USSR, according to which Finland recognised the validity of the peace treaty signed in Moscow in 1940 at the end of the Soviet-Finnish War.

During the Winter War, the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army defeated the Finnish armed forces. The result of the victory was the annexation of the Karelian Isthmus and part of Karelia to the USSR.

After the defeat, the Finnish nationalist government set a course for an alliance with Nazi Germany in order to recapture the lost territories in a new war and achieve the previously declared goals. By the beginning of 1941, this alliance was concluded, and covert mobilisation and preparation for war began in Finland.

By June 22, about half a million soldiers were concentrated on the border with the USSR, who went on the offensive on June 28.

In the summer of 1941, the Finns blockaded Leningrad from the north and also occupied significant territories in Karelia. After the start of the blockade of the city of Lenin, the Finnish armed forces took part in the shelling of the city and the “Road of Life”, and also built concentration camps in Karelia.

After the Battle of Moscow, the front with Finland stabilised. In 1944, the large Vyborg-Petrozavodsk offensive operation began, during which the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army defeated the Finnish forces north of Leningrad and reached the pre-war borders.

Realising the inevitability of its defeat, the Finnish government began to look for ways out of the war, and on August 25, Moscow received an official request for an armistice. On September 19, the Moscow Armistice was signed between Finland and the USSR. Finland withdrew from the war, recognised the 1940 peace treaty as valid, ceded the port of Pechenga, returned all [surviving] Soviet prisoners of war, and paid $300 million in reparations.

As a result of the armistice, Germany lost an important ally that had participated in the war against the USSR, was a source of raw materials, and provided a bridgehead for German units advancing on Leningrad and Murmansk.

Source: CPRF, translated by Beorn and The Shieldmaiden

On Historical and International Legal Accountability of Finland for the Occupation of Karelia During Great Patriotic War (WWII) (1941–1944)

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Below is a complete copy of the report by the Representative office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in Petrozavodsk, published at the site of the Russian Foreign Ministry on July 7, 2025. The report can also be downloaded as a PDF file. A summary of the report is available at the MFA’s Telegram channel.

On Historical and International Legal Accountability of Finland for the Occupation of Karelia During Great Patriotic War (WWII) (1941–1944)

Report by the Representative office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in Petrozavodsk

GENERAL INFORMATION

September 30, 2024, marked 80 years since the liberation of Karelia from Nazi and Finnish occupation forces. Given the need to reaffirm the historical truth, it is again relevant to direct the attention of the world community to the crimes committed by Finland during its occupation of Karelia from 1941 to 1944. While these atrocities were adjudicated by a Finnish court under the agreement between the USSR and Finland, the proceedings demonstrated excessive leniency towards the accused.

On August 1, 2024, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Karelia ruled on the application of the Prosecutor of the Republic of Karelia to establish a fact of legal significance. The Court recognised crimes committed by Nazi occupation forces and Finnish occupation authorities and troops on the territory of the Karelo-Finnish SSR during the Great Patriotic War (WWII) (1941-1944) as war crimes and crimes against humanity. These crimes, defined in the Charter of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal (August 8, 1945) and affirmed by UN General Assembly Resolutions 3(I) (February 13, 1946) and 95 (I) (December 11, 1946), were perpetrated against at least 86,000 Soviet citizens. The victims comprised civilians and prisoners of war serving in the Red Army (the armed forces of the USSR). Furthermore, the Court recognised these acts as genocide against national, ethnic, and racial groups representing the population of the USSR – the peoples of the Soviet Union. This genocide formed part of a plan by Nazi Germany and its ally, Finland, to expel and exterminate the entire local population of the occupied Soviet territories to colonise the land.

The evidence presented to the court confirmed that the occupiers systematically tortured civilians and prisoners of war. This included subjecting them to forced labour under brutal conditions, physical beatings, the prolonged denial of medical care, and confinement in inhumane concentration camp conditions. Collective punishment was routinely applied to civilians and prisoners of war for even minor acts of disobedience. Based on evidence presented during hearings, the court established that over 26,000 civilians and prisoners of war perished during the occupation. These deaths resulted from execution, torture, starvation, and disease. Furthermore, the occupiers deliberately destroyed cities, villages, and industrial and agricultural infrastructure. The total economic and infrastructural damage inflicted upon the region, adjusted for inflation to current rouble values, exceeds 20 trillion roubles[1].

Considering the ruling of the Supreme Court, this report provides a legal assessment of Finland’s conduct during World War II. The documented violations include violations of international treaties, crimes against peace, the implementation of a brutal policy in the occupied territories, which entailed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide, ethnic segregation, cruel treatment of non-Finno-Ugric population and prisoners of war.
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Finnish Face of Fascism, an RT Documentary

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During World War II, Finland became Germany’s strategic ally on the Eastern Front and fought against the Soviet Union. From 1941 to 1944 the Finnish army controlled Karelia, one of the republics of the Soviet Union. Nazi ideas thrived among the Finnish leadership, who developed a theory of racial superiority. According to this theory the Karelia population has been divided into two parts: the privileged Karelians and Finnis, and the Russians. Ethnic Russians were doomed to starvation and working to death. Though almost 80 years have passed since Finnish concentration camp survivors were liberated, the perpetrators of these crimes still go unpunished.


Backup at Rumble.

A short history of Finnish-Russian relations

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A cornerstone in the official Finnish Russomania, is the claim that Russia wants to consume the whole of Finland.

Our subscriber came across a historic step-by-step summary demonstrating the absolute inconsistency of such an accusation, which we published in a two-part post at “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”:

♦️♦️♦️

They didn’t, at any point from 1809-1947. That is the hallucination that Finns have, that Russia wants their lands.

In 1945 Roosevelt insisted that Finland gives up all the territories that Soviet Union had suggested in negotiations of 1938 with Finland, just to secure their second largest city against Finnish aggression, with Nazi Germany alliance and their troops in Finland.

Remember, the secret clause in the Molotov-Rittentrop agreement dictated that Finland belonged to Soviet Union sphere of influence. That there is not to be German troops etc in there. And what did Germans and Finns do? Exactly the opposite!

As well, Finland was the country for Nazi Germany’s submarine design and research, that is why Finland had own submarines as it did the designs for Nazi Germany, that was denied having submarines according to WWI peace treaty. So having it in Finland made it possible to circumnavigate those treaty limitations.

The Soviet Union had all the legitimate reasons to worry about the Finnish agenda and objectives, seeing what Finns did in 5 years after getting independence from Soviet Union.

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The main attraction of Helsinki – Alexander II and the Cathedral, St Nicholas’s Church. Photo by Beorn, 2016.

🔹 Russia formed Finland in 1809 by defining its borders for the first time in history, when Sweden lost their eastern territory to Russia.

🔹 Russia gave Finns their language, by making Finnish the official language in the country, before that you only had Swedish language for everything.
And no, Russia didn’t even demand Russian language be used.
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Soviet-Finnish War: the second offer is always worse than the first

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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.

Facts about the Red Army’s Polish Campaign on September 17, 1939

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On September 17, 1939, the Red Army launched a military operation in Poland’s eastern regions, also known as the Red Army’s Polish Campaign. The material is from Russian MFA Telegram channel, where one can also watch a short facta newsreel.

Certain (pseudo)academic circles and mainstream media in the West intentionally promote an excessively biased interpretation of these events seeking to equate the Third Reich and the USSR and cast our country as an aggressor.

❗️ Such approach is completely at odds with the historical truth.

Britain and France, which had played their role in fostering Hitler’s aggression in Europe and redirecting it eastward, were not willing to fulfill their alliance commitments to Poland, having just formally declared a war against the Third Reich, and refrained from direct military confrontation.

Traffic directors
A caricature by Boris Yefimov showing Britain and France as traffic directors, leading Hitler’s war gang along the way to the USSR, while stopping his progress to Western Europe. The caricature is not marked with year, but presumably depicts the effects of the Munich Conspiracy.

The French army did not even attempt to prevent the redeployment of the Wehrmacht units to the East. As Nazi general Alfred Jodl later testified at the Nuremberg trials, “if the Reich did not fail in 1939, it was only because during the Polish campaign, approximately 110 French and British divisions, stationed in the West, took no action against Germany’s 23 divisions”.

Thus, Warsaw, which completely relied on support of Britain and France, was, in fact, abandoned by the allies and had to face Hitler’s aggression. Poland was doomed to meet the same fate that had Czechoslovakia a year earlier. Betrayed by its allies and falling victim to its own political miscalculation, the Polish leadership — which for years had prioritized collaboration with Nazi Germany — ultimately led its nation to catastrophe.
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