760D.6111/41: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:20 p.m.]
283. My 281, March 13, 2 a.m. The texts of the peace treaty and of a protocol annexed thereto5 are published in Pravda today. The following is a brief summary of their contents. Full texts, I understand, have been sent abroad by Tass.6
[Page 315]Preamble refers to the desire of both countries to terminate hostilities and guarantee mutual security, including that of the City of Murmansk and the Murmansk Railway.
Article I provided for the termination of hostilities in accordance with the attached protocol.
Article II establishes the new boundary line between the Soviet Union and Finland in accordance with which there will be included in the territory of the Soviet Union “the entire Karelian Isthmus to the city of Viborg and the Gulf of Viborg, the islands therein, the western and northern shores of Lake Ladoga, with the cities of Keksholm, Sortavala, Suojärvi, a number of islands in the Finnish Gulf, the territory to the east of Merkjärvi, with the city of Kuola-jarvi, a portion of the Eybachii and Srednii Peninsulas”, in accordance with an attached map.
Article III provides that both contracting parties shall bind themselves to refrain from any attack on the other and from participating in any coalition directed against the other.
Article IV provides for the leasing by the Finnish Eepublic for 30 years, for an annual rental of 8,000,000 finnmarks, the peninsula of Hango, its surrounding sea area within a radius of 5 miles to the south and 3 miles to the north and west, as well as a number of islands in the vicinity for the creation of a naval base; and accords to the Soviet Union the right to maintain there at its own expense the necessary land and air forces. The Finnish Government within 10 days of the entry into force of the treaty agrees to evacuate its troops from and turn over to the Soviet Union the peninsula of Hango and the islands.
Article No. V provides that the Soviet Union shall withdraw its troops from the Petsamo oblast, which shall be voluntarily turned over to Finland in accordance with the peace treaty of 1920;7 and Finland also in accordance with the peace treaty of 1920, shall not maintain in the waters of the Arctic Ocean any naval vessels in excess of 100 tons with the exception of 15 naval and other armed vessels whose individual tonnage shall not exceed 400 and will not maintain submarines or military aviation in those waters. Finland likewise undertakes not to establish any naval bases in that area.
Article No. VI provides for the free transit of goods between the Soviet Union and Norway and that these be “freed from examination, customs duties, transit or other charges or any control with the exception of those normally provided by international practice for the regulation of transit communications.” Likewise citizens of the Soviet Union may have free passage to and from Norway on the basis [Page 316] of passports issued by the appropriate Soviet authorities and Soviet “unarmed aviation” shall be granted free transit across the Petsamo region between the Soviet Union and Norway.
Article No. VII grants the Soviet Union the right of transit of goods between the Soviet Union and Sweden, [and for] the development of this transit [along the] shortest railway route the Soviet Union and Finland consider it essential to construct, each on its own territory if possible during 1940, a railway line connecting Kandalaksha and Kemijärvi.
Article No. VIII provides for economic conversations and the conclusion of a trade agreement between the two countries.
Article No. IX provides for the entry of the treaty into force on the date of its signature and for exchange of ratifications within 10 days (not 3 as was reported last night) in the city of Moscow.
The protocol attached to the treaty provides for the cessation of hostilities at 12 noon March 13 Leningrad time and provides detailed schedules for movements of troops in stages in various regions from 10 o’clock March 15 to March 26, 1940. The evacuation of Petsamo by the Red Army is to be completed by April 10th. In addition Article No. VI places responsibility on the military commanders of both armies to prevent destruction of properties such as power stations, bridges, etc., in regions to be evacuated.
The treaty and protocol were signed by Molotov, Zhdanov and Vasilevski for the Soviet Union, by Ryti, Paasikivi, Walden and Woinonaa [Voionmaa] for Finland.
No further details in regard to the exact location of the new frontier are contained in the treaty or protocol but according to a rough map also [in] Pravda today the line appears to run from 25 to 30 kilometers to the north and parallel to the Viborg-Sortavala railway from the Gulf of Finland to Lake Ladoga.
The leading editorial in Pravda today on the signature of the peace treaty is relatively restrained in tone and seeks to emphasize, citing Molotov’s radio speech8 to that effect, that the only aim of the Soviet operations was a guarantee of security for the Soviet Union and in particular Leningrad which the editorial states is fully assured by the present treaty. The editorial contains the customary assertion that the negotiations last fall failed due to the machinations of “certain European states” who were desirous of extending the war to that corner of Europe and directing it against the Soviet Union. In this connection the editorial writes that the Anglo-French imperialist [Page 317] circles had incited Finland “as they formerly had Poland and other states” to war with the Soviet Union by promises of help, which turned out to be illusory. In conclusion there is a statement that the Soviet people have achieved that which they wished and peace now reigns on the frontiers of the Soviet Union. The editorial made no mention of Kuusinen or the People’s Government of Finland nor of the personalities of the present Finnish Government.
- Signed at Moscow on March 12, 1940; for texts, see Finland, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, The Finnish Blue Book (Philadelphia, 1940), p. 115, or the sequel publication, Finland Reveals Her Secret Documents on Soviet Policy, March 1940–June 1941 (New York, 1941), p. 35; or the translation from the Russian original from Pravda in Department of State Bulletin, April 27, 1940, p. 453.↩
- Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union, official communications agency of the Soviet Government.↩
- Signed at Dorpat (Tartu, Yuryev) on October 14, 1920; for text, see League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. iii, p. 6.↩
- See telegram No. 965, November 30, 1939, 1 a.m., from the Chargé in the Soviet Union, Foreign Relations, The Soviet Union, 1933–1939, p. 797.↩