Moscow Armistice

The Moscow Armistice was signed between Finland on one side and the Soviet Union and United Kingdom on the other side on September 19, 1944, ending the Continuation War.[2] The Armistice restored the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940, with a number of modifications.

Moscow Armistice
The areas ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union after the Continuation War. Porkkala was returned to Finland in 1956.[1]
TypeBilateral treaty
Signed19 September 1944 (1944-09-19)
LocationMoscow, Russian SFSR, USSR
Original
signatories		USSR
Finland
RatifiersUSSR
Finland

The final peace treaty between Finland and many of the Allies was signed in Paris in 1947.

Conditions for peace

The conditions for peace were similar to what had been agreed in the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940: Finland was obliged to cede parts of Karelia and Salla, as well as certain islands in the Gulf of Finland. The new armistice also handed all of Petsamo to the Soviet Union, and Finland was further compelled to lease Porkkala to the Soviet Union for a period of fifty years (the area was returned to Finnish control in 1956).[1]

Other conditions included Finnish payment of $300,000,000 ($4.4 billion in today's US dollars) in the form of various commodities over six years to the Soviet Union as war reparations.[3] Finland also agreed to legalise the Communist Party of Finland (after it had made some changes to the party rules) and ban the ones that the Soviet Union considered fascist.[4] Further, the individuals that the Soviets considered responsible for the war had to be arrested and put on trial, the best-known case being that of Risto Ryti.[5] The armistice compelled Finland to drive German troops from its territory, leading to a military campaign in Lapland.

See also

References
  1. "Return of Porkkala by Soviets 50 years ago had strings attached". Helsingin Sanomat. 25 January 2006.
  2. Armistice Agreement between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,on the one hand, and Finland on the other
  3. (in Finnish) Last war reparation train crossed Finnish-Soviet border 50 years ago Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine Helsingin Sanomat 3 September 2002
  4. (in Finnish) Jukka Nevakivi (2006) Jatkosodasta nykypäivään. (From Continuation War to Today. In: Suomen poliittinen historia 1809–2006. WSOY, Helsinki
  5. Jakobson, Max (former Finnish Ambassador to the UN) Finnish wartime leaders on trial for "war guilt" 60 years ago Helsingin Sanomat International edition, 28 October 2005

Further reading
  • Malbone W. Graham. (1945). "Armistices – 1944 Style". The American Journal of International Law 39, 2: 286–95.
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