Soviet-Finnish Non-Aggression Pact
Encyclopedia
Non-aggression pact
A non-aggression pact is an international treaty between two or more states/countries agreeing to avoid war or armed conflict between them and resolve their disputes through peaceful negotiations...
signed in 1932 by representatives of Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. The pact was unilaterally renounced by the Soviet Union in 1939, after it had committed the deception operation Shelling of Mainila
Shelling of Mainila
The Shelling of Mainila was a military incident on November 26, 1939, where the Soviet Union's Red Army shelled the Russian village of Mainila , declared that the fire originated from Finland across a nearby border and claimed losses in personnel...
, where it shelled its own village and claimed Finland to be responsible.
The Soviet Union had started non-aggression pact negotiations with its neighbouring countries in Europe during the Invasion of Manchuria, due to which the Soviet Union wanted to secure its borders. Although Finland was the last to sign the pact on January 21, 1932, after Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, it was the first to ratify it in July 1932. Both parties guaranteed to respect the borders between the countries, and agreed to stay neutral. Disputes were promised to be solved peacefully and neutrally.
The pact was extended to December 31, 1945 in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
on April 7, 1934. It was signed by the Finnish foreign minister Aarno Yrjö-Koskinen and the Soviet foreign minister Maxim Litvinov
Maxim Litvinov
Maxim Maximovich Litvinov was a Russian revolutionary and prominent Soviet diplomat.- Early life and first exile :...
.
The pact was renounced by the Soviet Union on 28 November 1939, two days before its invasion of Finland
Winter War
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
, claiming Finland had shelled a Soviet village. According to the Article Five, parties should had called for a joint commission to examine the incident, which Finland tried to call but the Soviet Union refused.
See also
- Treaty of TartuTreaty of Tartu (Russian–Finnish)The Treaty of Tartu between Finland and Soviet Russia was signed on 14 October 1920 after negotiations that lasted for four months. The treaty confirmed the border between Finland and Soviet Russia after the Finnish civil war and Finnish volunteer expeditions in Russian East Karelia. Ratifications...
- Soviet–Polish Non-Aggression Pact
- Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual AssistanceFranco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual AssistanceThe Franco–Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance was a bilateral pact between the two countries with the aim of containing Nazi Germany's aggression in 1935. It was pursued by Louis Barthou, who was the French Foreign Minister but he was assassinated before negotiations were finished...
- German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact
External links
- 1932 Pact
- 1934 Continuation Pact