Karelian question

The term arose in 1920 after the conclusion of the Tartu Peace Treaty between the RSFSR and Finland , according to which the disputed territory was assigned to Finland, then, as a result of two wars of 1939-1940 and 1941-1944 , this territory came under the control of the USSR. The Karelian-Finnish population of this territory was evacuated to Finland (about 422 thousand people).

The Moscow Peace Treaty (1940) and the Paris Peace Treaty between the USSR and Finland (1947) secured the territorial acquisitions of the USSR : the Karelian Isthmus , Petsamo , Salla-Kuusamo and the remote islands of the Gulf of Finland ( Gogland , Big Tyuters , Powerful and Seskar ). The lands of Western Karelia acquired by the USSR became part of the Karelian-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic . In 1944, the Karelian Isthmus became part of the Leningrad Region, and in 1956 the Karelian-Finnish SSR was transformed into autonomy within the RSFSR, from the name of which the word “Finnish” was removed.

After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the discussion in Finland around the Karelian issue intensified. However, neither Finland nor Russia raised the issue of revising the border at the state level. December 30, 1991 Finland declared Russia as a successor state to the USSR. In January 1992, the “ Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Finland on the foundations of relations ” was concluded ^[1] .

Tarja Halonen, who was elected President of Finland in the spring of 2000, arrived in Moscow on an official visit in June of the same year and met for the first time with Vladimir Putin. During the visit, the Finnish journalist raised the issue of the fate of the territory of Karelia. Putin replied to this: "The territorial issue has been resolved for us and closed completely" - this is how he first outlined his position.

In September 2001, Vladimir Putin paid an official visit to Finland. The Russian president saw a group of protesters demanding the return of territories, and at the end of the visit said: “We spoke with President Halonen that such people cannot be ignored” ^[2] . According to Vladimir Putin, expressed by him during this visit, changing borders is not the best way to solve problems. The best solution is to develop integration and interstate cooperation ^[3] .

In Finland, according to recent opinion polls, from 26 to 38% of respondents favor the return of lost territories, from 52 to 62% against ^[4] . Supporters of the return of Karelia believe that the Moscow (1940) and Paris (1947) treaties were forced and only the Tartu Peace Treaty is legitimate because it has never been canceled. According to a survey conducted by the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper , 52% of opponents of reunification also believe that the cost of returning these territories may be unacceptable. In a survey conducted by the Karelian Union Association of Karelian Migrants, only 5% of the respondents (2.1% of them are ethnic Finns) spoke in favor of returning the lost territories even at the cost of war, and 83% against ^[4] .

In the summer of 2006, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said on the air of the Echo of Moscow radio station that there were no territorial disputes between Finland and Russia. He added that there are no “legal grounds” for the claims of deportees from Karelia to return their lost property. “All displaced persons received compensation from the Finnish government for losses,” the minister explained ^[5] .

In 2010, the court sentenced a resident of Petrozavodsk under article 280 part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (a public call for extremist activities) and imposed a fine of 100 thousand rubles on him. for distributing campaign leaflets in Sortavala calling for the transfer to Finland of the border territories of Karelia, the Murmansk and Leningrad Regions, which belonged to Finland until 1940 ^[6] .

In January 2011, after approval by the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev of the list of border areas of the Russian Federation ^[7] , where the sale of land to foreigners is prohibited, the Karelian question was again raised in Finland ^[8] , as the former territories of Finland fell into the border zone of the Russian Federation ( Vyborg district of the Leningrad region , several regions of the Republic of Karelia ).

The Finnish authorities acknowledge that there is no territorial issue between Russia and Finland ^[9] .

The internally displaced residents of Karelia and their descendants themselves consider the solution to the problem as returning them home, separately from the "territorial issue between Russia and Finland." In this case, the Finnish government is obliged to return the Karelians at the expense of the treasury, with the help of state forces and means.

• Evacuation of the population of Finnish Karelia
• Pan-Finno-Ugrism

• Karelian Union (Fin.) , (English) , (Russian)
• ProKarelia (Fin.) , (English) , (Russian)
• The debate in Finland over the return of Karelia // Virtual Finland 2001
• Pertti Joenniemi. Ways of Managing Border Disputes in Present-Day Europe: The Karelian Question (1996 )
• Edward Hämäläinen. Revanchism in Finland - myth or reality? July 04-11, 2002.
• Kuril syndrome in Finland. Karelia, 03/05/2005
• “Give our lands back - Finnish migrants from Karelia and their heirs are preparing lawsuits against the Russian government” // Novye Izvestia , May 29, 2006
• “Dear ransom for Karelia” (inaccessible link) Postimees, 09/17/2007
• The executioners of the Karelian people