Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1939, General, Volume I

760d.61/769

The Finnish Legation to the Department of State ²¹

Memorandum

Soviet Russian demands on Finland, as they had been put forward during the first negotiations in Moscow, were the following (information dated October 27th, 1939):

1. The Finnish Isles in the Eastern part of the Gulf of Finland, Suursaari (Hogland) and Koivisto (Björkö) included.

2. Part of the Karelian Isthmus, from Koivisto on the Gulf of Finland eastwards to Kirjasalo on the frontier line.

3. The port of Hanko (Hangö).

4. The harbor Lappohja (Lappvik). Both 3) and 4) evidently to be ceded under lease.

5. The Western part of the Kalastajasaarento (“Fishermans Peninsula”) in Petsamo.

On October 31st, 1939 the following Finnish counterproposals were fixed as instructions for the Finnish negotiators again going to Moscow:

A. The Isles Seiskari, Lavansaari, Peninsaari, Tytärsaafi-islands can be ceded against territorial compensations. The status of Suursari (Hogland) can be discussed.

B. Hanko and Lappohja are not to be ceded or leased in any case.

C. On the Karelian Isthmus Finland would cede against territorial compensations elsewhere the territory marked by a line starting from the mouth of the Vammelsuu river on the Gulf of Finland through Raivola and Kaukjärvi to the frontier.

D. In Petsamo Finland is ready to cede against territorial compensations elsewhere the Western side of the Northern Kalastaja-saarento (“Fishermans Peninsula”).

E. The territorial compensations from Russia are not to be calculated mathematically, i. e. not square mile against square mile.

F. The Treaty of Non-aggression will be completed on the lines proposed by Finland and already accepted by the Soviet Union.

G. The proposed demilitarization of fortified zones on both sides of the border is not to be accepted.

H. Soviet Russia’s information regarding the fortification of the Aaland Islands by Finland alone has been noted as corresponding to Finland’s intentions.

On November 10th, 1939, information was received that the Soviet Union insists on getting the naval base on the Finnish coast in the Western part of the Gulf of Finland and on a frontier line on the Karelian Isthmus starting from Koivisto on the Gulf of Finland. The Finnish Delegation was in possession of detailed information regarding the utmost limit of concessions Finland would make. The negotiations were broken off in the evening of November 9th, but Russian Premier Molotov informed by a letter during the night that a misunderstanding existed.

On November 13th, 1939, the Finnish Foreign Office informed that the Finnish Delegates Paasikivi and Tanner are returning from Moscow and that the Russian Government still insist on the frontier line starting from Koivisto and on a naval base in the mouth of the Gulf of Finland.

In the last phase of the negotiations Finland had made still larger concessions in as far as she had agreed to the frontier line on the Karelian Isthmus to be drawn further from the present frontier from the neighbourhood of Ino, and furthermore she had been willing to cede the Southern part of Hogland.

Washington , December 11, 1939.

21. Notation by Pierrepont Moffat, Chief of the Division of European Affairs: “Left at the Dep[artmen]t of State by the Finnish Minister (under specific instructions from his gov[ernmen]t) 12–11–39.”