On March 31, 1940, at the VI session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, a law was adopted on the transfer to the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the territories of the Karelian Isthmus and Northern Ladoga region transferred from Finland after the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940, in accordance with the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940 also about transformation
KASSR to the Karelo-Finnish SSR. The capital of the KFSSR remained the city of Petrozavodsk.
According to some historians, the KFSSR posed a threat to Finland, as it could be a potential “background” for its accession to the USSR. In favor of this theory, an argument is given that earlier, on December 1, 1939, the so-called The People's Government of the Finnish Democratic Republic of Finnish communists led by
O. Kuusinen, who later headed the KFSSR.
In 1937, the areas of the Kalinin region inhabited by Karelians formed the Karelian National Okrug, which existed until 1939. The circumstances surrounding the dissolution of the district are unknown. Presumably, the planned annexation of Finland in 1939.
The “titular” Karelian and Finnish population, unlike other Soviet republics, constituted a national minority throughout the existence of the republic. In 1939, even before the Soviet-Finnish War and the annexation of the Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga region, the share of the Finno-Ugric population (Karelians, Finns and Vepsians) in the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was 27%, and according to
In the 1959 census, conducted after the abolition of the republic, it dropped to 18.3%. The Finnish and Karelian population of the western lands of Karelia annexed in 1940 (more than 400 thousand people) were evacuated in advance to the central regions of Finland. In this regard, at that time there was a joke that “in the Karelo-Finnish Republic there are only two Finns: the Financial Inspector and FINkelstein, but in general they are one and the same person.”
On July 16, 1956, the KFSSR was again demoted in status to the ASSR and returned to the RSFSR. At the same time, the word “Finnish” (Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) was removed from its name.
One of the monuments of the Karelo-Finnish SSR is the “Friendship of Peoples” fountain at VDNKh in Moscow. The 16 female figures in the fountain ensemble symbolize the Union Republics of the USSR. One of them is the Karelo-Finnish SSR, which has not existed since 1956, the rest became independent states in 1991.
It would be interesting to see today the independent state of the Karelo-Finnish Republic.
Yuri Andropov in 1947-1951 He was the Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Karelo-Finnish SSR.
The formation of the Karelo-Finnish SSR is directly related to the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940.
After it was not possible to conclude an agreement with Finland on military assistance and the deployment of Soviet bases on the country’s territory, as happened with the Baltic states, as well as the concession of the Karelian Isthmus and the Peninsula to the Soviet Union
Hanko, in exchange for twice the territory north of Lake Ladoga, Moscow decided to carry out a military occupation of Finland. On November 26, 1939, NKVD officers carried out a provocative shelling of Soviet positions near the border village of Maynila. After this, the Soviet Union broke off diplomatic relations with Finland, and on November 30 the Red Army began
large-scale invasion of Finnish territory. A month earlier, the Finnish People's Army Corps was formed in the USSR, designed to become the troops of the puppet pro-communist government of the Finnish Democratic Republic, led by a prominent figure of the Comintern, Otto Kuusinen.
On November 23, the political department of the Leningrad Military District sent the following instructions to the troops: “We are not marching as conquerors, but as friends of the Finnish people... The Red Army supports the Finnish people, who stand for friendship with the Soviet Union... Victory over the enemy must be achieved with little bloodshed.” .
However, it was not possible to win with little blood. The frontal assault on the Mannerheim line failed. In the first three weeks, the Red Army failed not only to reach Helsinki, as planned, but even to break through the first line of Finnish positions. On the Karelian Isthmus, by December 21, 1939, the Soviet offensive had completely stopped. On December 26, Soviet troops went on the defensive.
The auxiliary strike, carried out in difficult areas north of Lake Ladoga, ended in complete failure. Two Soviet divisions were surrounded and almost completely destroyed. In total, five Soviet divisions were surrounded and almost completely destroyed in that area before the end of the war. The lack of preparation for combat operations in general and in winter affected
conditions in particular. Only after bringing in reinforcements did the Red Army resume its offensive on the Karelian Isthmus. Every day for several days, Soviet troops rained down 12 thousand shells on the fortifications of the Mannerheim Line. On the morning of February 11, a general offensive began. On the first day, the divisions of the 7th Army were able to wedge themselves into the defense system of the Summsky fortified junction, the fall of which the front command hastened to notify Moscow on the same day. In reality, the amount was only withdrawn on February 14th. By the end of February, Soviet troops reached Finnish rear defensive positions in the Vyborg area. Battle for
this city continued until the conclusion of the truce.
Subsequent failures of the Finnish army on the Karelian Isthmus forced Helsinki to hesitate between concluding a difficult peace and the possibility of continuing resistance with the help of the Western allies. Mannerheim feared that the fatigue of the Finnish troops, who had already brought all their reserves into action, could lead to the fact that the front was about to collapse.
The peace signed in Moscow was difficult for Finland. The new border roughly corresponded to that established by the Treaty of Nystadt in 1721 after the Great Northern War.
The Finnish Democratic Republic was no longer remembered, but the Karelo-Finnish Union Republic and the 71st Special Division remained, as it were, “an armored train on a siding.” In case of a favorable military-political situation, it was always possible to join the rest of Finland. Stalin wanted the government in Helsinki to remember this.
Stalin's new ally Hitler watched with a grin at Stalin's attempts to defeat Finland. Maybe it was then that he became convinced
in its victory in the war with the USSR.
Victor Suvorov. The Last Republic
A “government” of NKVD and GRU officers was created. Otto Kuusinen was appointed “President” (his wife at that time worked in the illegal station of Richard Sorge), the ministers were Soviet communists of Finnish origin. The “Red Army of Finland” was created, which was supposed to victoriously enter Helsinki and support the “rebellious proletariat”, and our Red Army was supposed to help our “class brothers” a little.
The entire population of Finland was already divided into whites and reds. The so-called “White Finns” were subject to isolation and liquidation. What awaited them was the same as the Polish officers. By the way, the division into whites and reds was carried out in all territories adjacent to our borders: in 1920 we fought against the “White Poles”, in 1921 - against the “White Finns” and “White Karelians”, in 1927 - against the “White Chinese generals”. The very term “White Finns” indicated that our goal was to turn them into Reds.
The fighting in Finland ended on March 13, 1940, and already in the summer the three Baltic states: Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia surrendered to Stalin without a fight and became the “republics” of the Soviet Union.
Anthem of the Karelo-Finnish SSR
Hymn text:
Oma Karjalais-suomalaiskansamme maa,
Vapaa Pohjolan Neuvostojen tasavalta.
Kotimetsaimme kauneus oin kajastaa
Revontultemme taivaalta leimuavalta.
Chorus:
Neuvostoliitto on voittamaton,
Se kansamme suur-isanmaa ijat on.
Sen Tiena on Kansojen Kunniantie,
Se Karjalan Kansankin voittoihin vie.
Isanmaa Kalevan, kotimaa runojen,
Jota Leninin Stalinin lippu johtaa.
Yli kansamme uutteran onnellisen
Valo kansojen veljeystahdesta hohtaa.
Chorus.
Kotimaamme loi uudeksi kansamme tyo,
Tata maata me puollamme kuin isat ammoin.
Sotasuksemme suihkavat kalpamme lyo.
Asemahdilla suojaamme Neuvasto-Sammon.
Chorus.
Translation from Finnish:
Music: Karl Rautio
Text: Armas Yaikia
The native country of our Karelo-Finnish people,
Free Northern Soviet Republic.
The beauty of our native forests is reflected at night
On our Northern Lights burning in the sky.
Chorus.
The Soviet Union is invincible
This is the eternal land of the great ancestor of our people.
His path is the path of honor of nations,
He and the people of Karelia will lead to victories.
Fatherland of Kaleva, homeland of runes,
Which Lenin-Stalin banner leads.
Over our hardworking happy people
the light of the peoples of the brotherhood of the star shines.
Chorus.
Our homeland was created again by the labor of our people,
We defend this country like our fathers in ancient times.
Our military skis rush, our sword strikes
We will defend the Soviet Sampo with weapons.
Chorus.
Anthem music:
Anthem History:
Workers of all countries, unite!
16th Republic
During the leadership of N. S. Khrushchev and L. I. Brezhnev, the People's Republic of Bulgaria was unofficially called the 16th republic. Firstly, for the close ties and strong friendly relations between the USSR and Bulgaria. And secondly, because Todor Zhivkov, who headed Bulgaria for 35 years, at one time submitted a request for its entry into the USSR, which, however, was rejected.
The real 16th republic was the Karelo-Finnish SSR, which in 1940–1956 had the status of a union republic. In 1956 it became part of the RSFSR as an Autonomous SSR. From that time until the collapse of the USSR, the number of republics was 15.
From now on there will be 15 Union republics. The Karelo-Finnish SSR, formed after the war with the “White Finns”, was again turned into the Karelian ASSR as part of the RSFSR
The Reds proclaimed the first socialist republic in 1918. But the Finnish Whites, led by the Tsarist General Carl Gustav Mannerheim, won the civil war. By attacking Finland in 1939, the USSR staged the emergence of a “democratic republic” and its “people’s government” under the chairmanship of the Moscow Comintern member Otto Kuusinen in the “liberated” Terijoki (Zelenogorsk). The Kremlin actually continued the civil war, Sovietizing another part of the Russian Empire. But, unlike the Baltic countries, Finland, with the same commander Mannerheim, did not surrender - they only seized a tenth of its territory, thereby expanding the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, transformed in 1940 into the Karelo-Finnish SSR. This was partly how they saved face: they say, this was the goal of the military campaign. The puppet “people's government” was dissolved, Kuusinen headed the KFSSR, the very name of which was reminiscent of the possibility of the neighboring country joining the Soviet Union.
The Finns considered their participation in the war against the USSR on the side of Germany as a “continuation.” They crossed the old border, capturing the “Karelian-Finnish” capital of Petrozavodsk. After the defeat of the Hitler bloc, Finland avoided occupation, and then earned the full trust of Moscow. Why now threaten the best of the capitalist countries with the title of their union republic? There was nothing Finnish in the Karelo-Finnish SSR from the very beginning - the inhabitants of the annexed lands moved deep into Suomi. And there is not much Karelian: the “first titular nation” already makes up less than 20% of the population. The Karelians have become strongly assimilated; the Russian language is spoken everywhere. In addition, the strategic Karelian Isthmus with Vyborg was transferred to the Leningrad region after the war.
By downgrading the USSR to the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the red ribbon with the inscription “Workers of all countries, unite!” is removed from the Soviet coat of arms! in Finnish. This is the last change in the composition of the USSR until its collapse. The only monument to the abolished 16th Union Republic will remain the Friendship of Peoples fountain at VDNKh, built in the early 1950s: in order to maintain symmetry, the gilded figure of the “Karelo-Finnish” will not be removed there.
Phenomena mentioned in the text
Good Neighbor Finland 1948
Finland, officially recognized as an ally of Nazi Germany, concludes a friendship treaty with the USSR. The preamble specifically states the small northern country's desire to "stay out of the disputes between the great powers." In a world divided into two warring camps, the task seems obviously impossible
Russia instead of the USSR. Gorbachev's departure 1991
All former Soviet republics are leaving the USSR, getting rid of the definition of “Soviet socialist” in their full names. Instead of the Ukrainian SSR - Ukraine, instead of the Belarusian SSR - Belarus. The RSFSR is now also Russia, or the Russian Federation, but it is both instead of the RSFSR and instead of the entire USSR
VSKhV/VDNKh 1939
The All-Union Agricultural Exhibition is opening on the northern outskirts of Moscow. The exhibition, later expanded to cover the entire “national economy”, will serve as a ceremonial showcase of socialism
Around the Fountain of Friendship of Peoples in Moscow there are sculptures symbolizing the union republics of the USSR. However, few people know that there are not fifteen of these sculptures (according to the widely known number of republics), but sixteen. The fountain with sculptural compositions was created in the first half of the 1950s, when there really was one more republic. The sixteenth republic, which existed from 1940 to 1956, was the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic - Karjalais-suomalainen sosialistinen neuvostotasavalta. Yes, there really was a time when Karelia (now an ordinary autonomous republic within the Russian Federation) had the status of a union republic, and the city of Petrozavodsk was equal in status to Minsk, Tbilisi or Tashkent.
The Finnish language had official status in the republic, and the slogan inscribed on the coat of arms was “Workers of all countries, unite!” in Finnish it sounds like "Kaikkien maiden proletaarit, liittykää yhteen". Until 1956, the slogan in Finnish was also present on the coat of arms of the Soviet Union. You can see it on the left if you look closely.
However, this republic had a rather indirect relationship with Finland and was located primarily on the territory of modern Karelia. It arose in March 1940 - exactly after the end of the Soviet-Finnish War. Let's try to understand the history of the emergence of this national entity. It will be necessary to tell a rather long backstory, which is closely connected with the Soviet-Finnish War.
Soviet Finland first appeared in January 1918, when the socialist revolution broke out in Helsinki and, following it, a civil war that lasted until May 1918. During the Finnish Civil War, the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Suomen sosialistinen työväentasavalta) was proclaimed, led by the chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, Kullervo Manner. But as a result of the defeat of the Finnish Reds, this republic dissolved itself, and its government fled to the RSFSR. Manner himself, by the way, died twenty years later in Stalin’s camps.
In Karelia, during the Civil War, the Karelian Labor Commune was established, which was transformed in 1923 into the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the RSFSR.
In the fall of 1939, when World War II had already broken out, the issue of Leningrad's security became more acute. The problem was that in the immediate vicinity - approximately 25 kilometers from the second largest Soviet city there was the border with Finland, and in the event of the appearance of troops of any third major European power on the territory of Finland (primarily, of course, Germany), the security of Leningrad would be under serious threat - direct fire from the shore of the Gulf of Finland could block the Soviet navy in Kronstadt, and shots from long-range guns located on the border could reach the industrial areas of Leningrad. In order to prevent such a turn of events, the government of the USSR in October 1939 proposed an exchange of territories to Finland: Finland was required to cede half of the Karelian Isthmus and a number of islands in the Gulf of Finland, in exchange the Soviet Union undertakes to give Finland twice the territory in Karelia. The second demand of the Soviet side was to lease the Hanko Peninsula for the construction of a naval base in order to cover the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. The territorial claims of the Soviet Union are shown in the map below. Light yellow shows the territory that the USSR demanded from Finland, light pink - which it undertook to give in return, a dark brown line marks the state border.
Finland rejects all proposals, negotiations reach a dead end, and, due to the obvious impossibility of a peaceful resolution of the situation, the Soviet-Finnish War, also known as the Winter War (Talvisota), begins on November 30, 1939. On the second day of the war, the puppet state of the Finnish Democratic Republic (Suomen kansantasavalta) was proclaimed and the so-called “people's government of Finland” was formed, which met in the Finnish border village of Terijoki occupied by Soviet troops (now the city of Zelenogorsk - a suburb of St. Petersburg). Even before the start of the war, Moscow broke off diplomatic relations with Helsinki and now de jure recognized the “people's government” as the only legitimate government of Finland. A Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance was concluded with the Finnish Democratic Republic, led by the Finnish communist and prominent figure of the Comintern Otto Ville Kuusinen, according to which the required exchange of territories took place. However, on a much larger scale, the USSR officially “gave” Finland not 5 and a half, but 70 thousand square kilometers of territory, as shown on the map below.
Here I must make a digression. There is a widespread point of view according to which the plans of the Soviet leadership allegedly included the complete seizure and Sovietization of Finland with its transformation into the sixteenth republic. I cannot agree with this point of view - it was planned only to temporarily occupy the territory of the country in a short time and, by sending troops into Helsinki, force the Finnish government to sign peace on the terms on which the agreement was signed with the puppet government of Kuusinen. This government itself was created as an instrument of political pressure on the official government of Finland, and the possibility of putting it in Helsinki by force was intended only as a last resort, however, this would not mean the Sovietization of Finland. At the very beginning of the war, the puppet government was also used as an element of Soviet propaganda, which reported that the Red Army was going to Finland to liberate the working Finnish people from the “bourgeois oppressors,” but when it became clear that these same people were resisting the Red Army with a single impulse - propaganda faded into the background. In general, I cannot deny for sure that Stalin may have had intentions to Sovietize Finland, but this was not an end in itself.
Left: Otto Ville Kuusinen. Photo from 1920. On right: Signing of the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance between the USSR and the Finnish Democratic Republic. December 1, 1939
According to the terms of the agreement, the USSR recognized half of Karelia as Finnish territory, and maps were already published in Moscow, where half of the Karelian Isthmus was designated as Soviet territory, and the western half of Karelia as Finnish. It was already planned to begin the construction of border fortifications on the new border. In the agreement, the provision on the exchange of territories was enshrined in quite eloquent wording:
“...recognizing that the time has come to realize the age-old aspirations of the Finnish people for the reunification of the Karelian people with their kindred Finnish people in a single Finnish state...”
Which is generally true. During the Russian Civil War, Finland.
However, the Red Army had extremely low combat readiness and was unable to conduct combat operations in the Karelian taiga. It fights with great difficulty against the much weaker and smaller Finnish army and suffers four times as many losses. Already in the first days of the war, it was clear that a quick march to Helsinki would not be possible, and the war was becoming protracted. On the Karelian Isthmus, two weeks after the start of the war, the Red Army stopped, unable to storm the Mannerheim Line - a strip of defensive structures stretched from the Gulf of Finland to Lake Ladoga; north of Ladoga, in the area of the village of Kollaa, near the city of Suoyarvi, the Finns stubbornly hold the defense in trenches, and in North Karelia the offensive completely fails - the Soviet divisions are surrounded. It was possible to break through the Mannerheim Line only in February 1940 - after lengthy preparations and the transfer of reinforcements. In early March, the Red Army reached Vyborg, and the official Finnish government agreed to sign peace before the Red Army entered Helsinki. However, the peace conditions were much more difficult for Finland - the USSR no longer demanded half of the Karelian Isthmus, but all of Southwestern Karelia, including Vyborg, Kexholm (now Priozersk), Sortavala and Suoyarvi, as well as the eastern part of the Arctic volost of Salla with the villages of Kuolajärvi and Alakurtti, moreover, without compensation. It's difficult to say exactly why the requirements have expanded. Perhaps this was some kind of act of retribution for the huge losses the Red Army suffered during the war. Under the peace terms, the Soviet Union also received a military base on the Hanko Peninsula. The peace that ended the Soviet-Finnish War was signed in Moscow on March 12, 1940. The puppet government was then dissolved.
Now let's move directly to the subject of the article. As already reported, at the beginning of the war, Soviet propaganda reported on the “liberation of Finnish workers,” and under an agreement with the puppet Finnish Democratic Republic, the USSR de jure transferred half of Karelia to it. Accordingly, as the final part of this propaganda, it was decided to establish a separate union republic - the Karelo-Finnish SSR, which, in addition to Karelia itself, also included the territories conquered from Finland.
The republic received the following outlines:
Thus, no matter how absurd it may sound, it could be argued that part of the Finnish people was still liberated, despite the fact that almost all Finnish inhabitants of the conquered lands left their homes and moved to Finland. Actually, the republic itself could be conditionally divided territorially into Karelia and Soviet Finland. “Soviet Finland” can be conditionally considered the territory west of the border established by the agreement with the puppet government (although this agreement was annulled), as well as the lands actually seized from Finland. You can imagine this division like this (shown by the green line).
By the way, pay attention to where the border of the Karelo-Finnish and Russian Union Republics lies on the Karelian Isthmus. And it runs further north than the old border with Finland, because half of the Karelian Isthmus, which the Soviet side demanded before the war in negotiations, was officially “received” by the Soviet Union, again under an agreement with the puppet government. Therefore, in this place, the border of the RSFSR with the Karelo-Finnish SSR coincides with the border that the USSR demanded from Finland in the negotiations.
The decision to establish the Karelo-Finnish SSR was made at the 6th session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on March 31, 1940. And it was again headed by Otto Kuusinen. Supporters of the version that Stalin sought to Sovietize Finland are, as a rule, inclined to believe that the Karelo-Finnish SSR was created as a foundation for the future accession of Finland to the USSR. But, in my opinion, it would be more logical to consider that Stalin decided to keep Finland under a tight rein (although Nikolai Ivanovich, thanks to whom this expression appeared, had already been shot) as an unreliable neighbor, and for this purpose kept the same method in reserve political pressure on this state, as during the Soviet-Finnish War - only then there was a puppet government of the Finnish Democratic Republic, and now - the Karelo-Finnish Union Republic. Well, in order to exert a stronger influence on Finland, the USSR in 1944 demanded a military base on the Porkkala Peninsula, 20 kilometers from Helsinki, thus keeping the Finnish capital at gunpoint. Well, the second goal of creating the Karelo-Finnish Republic could be, as I already mentioned, propaganda.
Flag and coat of arms of the Karelo-Finnish SSR
At the same time, one cannot fail to mention that Karelia by that time was a rather backward region by the standards of the Soviet Union, where there were no large-scale industries. The Finno-Ugric peoples - Karelians, Finns and Vepsians, formally considered the titular nation of the republic, were in fact a national minority, making up about 30 percent of the population. The remaining 70 percent were predominantly Slavs - Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, including those brought by trains to lands captured from Finland in order to populate the depopulated region. And the Finns who inhabited the republic were not the indigenous population: they were either Finnish revolutionaries who fled Finland after the defeat of the Reds in the Finnish Civil War, or Ingrian Finns evicted by the Soviet authorities from the Leningrad region, including after returning from deportation. And after the abolition of the republic, there was a joke: “The Karelo-Finnish Republic was abolished because they found only two Finns in it - the financial inspector and Finkelstein.” Of course, there were no objective reasons for giving Karelia the status of a union republic, and the Karelo-Finnish SSR was essentially an ephemeral decoration.
The Karelo-Finnish SSR became a theater of large-scale military operations during the Great Patriotic War. In the summer and autumn of 1941, most of the republic was occupied by Finnish troops allied to the Germans (contrary to popular belief, the Finns crossed the old border, and how), and German units based in Northern Finland also operated in the northern part of the republic. During the war, the government of the republic was located in Belomorsk, and the headquarters of the Karelian Front was also located there. Life in the territory occupied by the Finns was generally less difficult than under the German occupation. However, the Slavic population, as a “non-national” population, was significantly deprived of its rights in comparison with the Finno-Ugric one, was placed in concentration camps and in the future was to be deported to the zone of German occupation.
Children are prisoners of the Finnish concentration camp in Petrozavodsk.
The photograph was presented as evidence at the Nuremberg trials
In the summer of 1944, as a result of the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk offensive operation, the Karelo-Finnish SSR was completely liberated, and on September 19, 1944, the USSR signed a separate peace treaty with Finland, under the terms of which Finland declared war on Germany, turning against yesterday's ally, and starting military operations against German units stationed in the northern part of Finland. These events were called the "Lapland War" (Lapin sota).
In 1944, the territory of the RSFSR was slightly increased at the expense of neighboring union republics, including Karelo-Finnish. Thus, the Pytalovsky district was transferred from the Latvian SSR to the RSFSR, which became part of the Pskov region; from Estonian - Ivangorod and the right bank of the Narova, as well as the Pechora region, which became part of the Leningrad and Pskov regions, respectively; From the Karelo-Finnish SSR, the Vyborg and Kexholm regions (the northern part of the Karelian Isthmus), which became part of the Leningrad region, were transferred to the RSFSR. In 1948, on the Karelian Isthmus (that is, already on the territory of the Leningrad region), a wave of mass renaming of settlements was carried out (there will be a separate post about this soon), which did not affect the Karelian-Finnish part of the lands seized from Finland. In 1953 and 1955, respectively, the villages of Alakurtti and Kuolayarvi, which became part of the Murmansk region, were transferred from the Karelo-Finnish SSR to the RSFSR. Then Karelia received its current shape. The map below shows in pink the territories separated from the Karelo-Finnish SSR in favor of the RSFSR in the post-war period.
After Stalin's death and Nikita Khrushchev's rise to power, a warming of Soviet-Finnish relations began. In 1956, Urho Kekkonen, who was closely acquainted with Khrushchev, became the President of Finland, and Khrushchev decided to release Finland from the “iron grip” - Soviet troops were withdrawn from the Porkkala base, and in the same year the Karelo-Finnish SSR was abolished, demoted again to the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and was included in the RSFSR.
Finally, pay attention to the flag of the modern Republic of Karelia (below) and compare it with the flag of the Karelo-Finnish SSR above. This means that Soviet symbols were preserved not only in Belarus.
You can imagine a “If only” scenario for a second. Namely, if Khrushchev had not abolished the Karelo-Finnish SSR. In this case, it would probably, like all other republics, secede in 1991. In this case, Murmansk would now occupy the same position as Kaliningrad. So, we like to remember the dashing Khrushchev for giving Crimea to Ukraine, but on the other hand, he still returned Karelia to Russia.
The date of birth of the new union republic is March 1940. It appeared on the map of the Soviet Union after the approval of the corresponding decision, which was made by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR - the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic became the Karelo-Finnish Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The new formation included the Karelian Isthmus, Northern Ladoga region and Salla-Kuusamo. The former Finnish lands became seven new regions of the KFSSR.
The newly formed republic had an unlucky number - it was the thirteenth in the USSR. Petrozavodsk became the main city of the KFSSR. As a union republic, the new entity had a pale appearance: economically weak, with a population of less than a million people. It was officially announced that the creation of the republic was due to the requests of the “workers of the KASSR” and the desire of the USSR government to “satisfy the people’s need for the free development of nationalities,” while in fact it was just a political alternative and a precautionary measure taken by the Soviet Union.
Most of the KFSSR in World War II was occupied by the Nazi allies, the Finns and units of the German Wehrmacht. On the territory of the republic, concentration camps were set up for the “unrelated” population (mostly Slavs), where over 60 thousand people were placed. At the end of the war, the Soviet side handed over to Finland a list of more than 60 people who, according to intelligence information, should have been tried for committing war crimes on the territory of the USSR - they managed to avoid trial and punishment in the Soviet Union. But not a single person from this list was ever brought to justice by the Finns.
Red Army and Navy units drove out the invaders in 1944.
At the same time, the republic lost two districts, which became part of the Leningrad region. Subsequently, two settlements of the KFSSR, the village of Alakurtti and the village of Kuolayarvi, passed to the Murmansk region.