MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/. Contemporary Finland, similar to the late 1930s, is becoming a launchpad for potential aggression against Russia, Nikolay Patrushev, Chairman of the Maritime Board and aide to the Russian president, told the National Defense magazine in an interview.
March 12 marks the 85th anniversary of the conclusion of the Soviet-Finnish war. Patrushev stated that Finnish historiographers today deliberately misrepresent the causes of the conflict: "They fail to mention that ultranationalist groups in Finland demanded the creation of a ‘Great Finland’, an aggressive propaganda campaign was pursued to seize Soviet territory, and intense militarization took place."
"Today, we observe a similar situation — Finland’s territory is once again turning into a launchpad for potential aggression against Russia, now under NATO's patronage," he noted.
Patrushev pointed out that Moscow had not taken any aggressive actions towards Helsinki in the late 1930s. "The Soviet government made efforts to resolve the issue peacefully until the very end, even offering a territorial swap."
However, Finland "rejected all peace proposals while bolstering its military capability, which posed a direct threat to the security of the USSR and, notably, the survival of Leningrad." During the Great Patriotic War, the Finns "occupied Soviet Karelia for almost three years, turning it into a massive concentration camp and indiscriminately exterminating, primarily the Slavic population," Patrushev added.
Patrushev emphasized the importance of focusing on the Karelian front of the Great Patriotic War under current circumstances. The front, where the Finnish army's attacks were repelled, was "not only the longest of the fronts but also the only one where a section of the Soviet border remained under the control of the Red Army throughout the entire conflict," he concluded.