Стр. 38 - V

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Author : Yu. Bulatov
Professor, Dean, School of International Relations, Moscow State Institute (University) of International
Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Science (History)
THE GREAT NORTHERNWAR (1700-1721) cre-
ated a new balance of power in the Baltics and made
the Finnish file part of czarist Russia's foreign policy
agenda.
From the very beginning, Russia concentrated on the
protection of its northwestern borders and was es-
pecially concerned with the safety of St. Petersburg.
In 1712, Peter the Great had moved the capital from
Moscow to St. Petersburg. Separated from the
Finnish border by about 40 km, the new capital on the Neva was dangerously close to Finland
and, therefore, was much more vulnerable to enemy attacks that Moscow, the first capital of
Russia situated in the country's center. From that time on, the defense of St. Petersburg against
possible Swedish expansion or attacks of any other state for that matter became the headache
of Russia's military structures and the central point of their operational plans.
Having conquered Vyborg and adjacent areas, Russians acquired the Finnish Question as part
of Russia's domestic policies. The czarist government pledged to guarantee its new subjects their
rights and privileges they had enjoyed in the Kingdom of Sweden. The Russians never missed a
chance to stress that Russian autocracy respected the traditional values of the Finns and protected
the interests of its new subjects.
THE RUSSIAN MILITARY got the first taste of direct administration of the Finnish lands
during the Great Northern War. By 1714, they had occupied the entire territory of Finland and
administered it for seven years until the Treaty of Nystad.
The Russian military had to look into the problems of administration since as soon as the Duchy
became a theater of the Russian-Swedish wars the Swedish secular and church nobility moved
or fled to Sweden leaving the Finns to their fates and depriving them of their normal life style.
ALL OTHER Russian-Swedish wars of the eighteenth century were fought during the reign of
Elizaveta Petrovna (1741-1761) and Catherine the Great (1762-1796). Eager to revenge the defeat
in the Great Northern War the Swedes drew Russia into a military campaign of 1741-1743 in
the course of which the Russian Empire conquered the entire territory of Finland and enriched
its experience of administering the Finns. It should be said that the Russian ruling circles opted
for a new tactics in dealing with the Finns.
It was Russia that made the greatest contribution to the Finnish "economic miracle." It was
Russia that shouldered the heavy burden of defense spending. Finland's security was protected
by Russian money.
In the course of the Russian-Swedish wars of the eighteenth century. St. Petersburg used the
Электронное приложение к журналу «
Международная жизнь
»
Finland and the Imperial Policy of the Romanovs