Стр. 38 - V

Author : Yu. Piskulov
Professor, Russian Foreign Trade Academy and Russian State Academy of Intellectual Property, Doctor of
Science (Economics)
THE CENTURY-LONG HISTORY of Finland's independence
and its relations with the Soviet Union/Russian Federation can be
conventionally divided into four periods: the beginning (early 20th
century to 1917); formal sovereignty and de facto dependence on
Germany (1918-1944); cooperation with the Soviet Union as a guar-
antee of independence, "Eastern Trade," Finnish Initiatives (1945-
1991); good-neighborly relations with Russia, integration with the
West (since 1992).
The works by Finnish historians published in Russia early in the
twenty-first century - Keisarin Suomi (Imperial Finland), Suomen
Suuriruhtinaskunta, 1809-1917 (The Grand Duchy of Finland),
Suomen poliittinen historia 1809-2009 (From Grand Duchy to a
Modern State: A Political History of Finland Since 1809), Lohen sukua: Urho Kekkonen - poliitikko
ja valtiomies (From the Kin of Salmon: Urho Kekkonen, Politician and President) - of the total
volume of 2.5 thousand pages are an obvious evidence of a great interest in our common past that
should be comprehended for the sake of the future.
Summing up what Finnish academics think about the history of their country's independence, I
will quote here what Alexander Rumyantsev, RF Ambassador to the Republic of Finland and Mem-
ber of the Russian Academy of Sciences, wrote in his introduction to Osmo Jussila's Suomen Su-
uriruhtinaskunta, 1809-1917: "Finland's wide autonomy within the Russian Empire allowed it to
acquire the still functioning Finnish structures of governance." This fully corresponds to what Pro-
fessor Jussila of Helsinki University said in his voluminous book: "As distinct from many other
smaller states that became independent, Finland did not have to build up its state struc-tures"3 and
ended it with: "When during World War II, President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt
asked J.V. Stalin why he was insisting on adding the Baltic states to the USSR as Soviet republics,
the former Commissar of Nationalities answered that under the last czar the Baltic gubernias had
already lost their autonomy."
"The paradox for Finland was that the better Finland succeeded in achieving the Soviet Union's
trust, the better were her possibilities for cooperation with the West" (Urho Kek-konen).
Summing up the Soviet period (the 1970s-1980s) known in Finland as "the golden time of Eastern
trade" we should point to the role of two outstanding statesmen that dominated the two countries'
relations for over 20 years. They were President Urho Kaleva Kekkonen and Minister of Foreign
Trade of the Soviet Union Nikolai Patolichev, affectionately called Pato in the Finnish business
community.
The present author who was actively involved in what was going on at that time has repeatedly
pointed out that none of the state figures of Finland of the latter half of the twentieth century had
Электронное приложение к журналу «Международная жизнь»
Finland: 100 Years of Independence