Other Post WWII in contemporary Russian propaganda

[PEMM]

I decided to start a thread like this, as there are these campaigns against all neighboring countries of Russia.

I can talk about campaign against Finland. Russia is now stating that Finland's actions in WWII constituted a genocide.

Russia's shocking plan for Finland revealed: "Genocide"
The Russian Cultural Fund supports a project whose purpose is to smear Finland and drum up Kremlin propaganda to Russian youth.

he "Fascism in Finnish: lessons of history and modern times" project spreads Kremlin propaganda.
The target group is young Russians living near the Finnish border.
The project is justified by arguments familiar from Kremlin propaganda.

Nikolay Patrushev, known as Vladimir Putin's right-hand man, visited Karelia last July with a harsh speech at the security conference.

In his speech, Patrushev accused Finland of having far-right groups who allegedly demanded the return of territories lost after the Second World War. He also claimed that the United States and other Western countries are fueling the anti-Russian campaign in Finland, where the aim is to destabilize the situation in the Republic of Karelia and promote separatist sentiments there.
Also read
"Putin's right hand" went to Karelia and threatened Finland - This is what it says

The project born out of the speech has now been included in the grant program of the Russian State Cultural Fund. The working title of the project, loosely translated, is "Fascism in Finnish: lessons from history and modern times".

The project is part of the Kremlin's wider propaganda campaign aimed at supporting the state's official narrative of interpretation of history. It is also intended to debunk the "myth prevailing in Russia about a noble and benevolent Finland".

According to the plan, the project is especially important for St. Petersburg, which in January celebrated the 80th anniversary of the end of the siege of Leningrad.

- We will never forget that this tragic chapter in our history was organized not only as a result of the invasion of Nazi Germany, but also by its Second World War ally - Finland - the plan says.

https://www-iltalehti-fi.translate...._sl=fi&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=fi&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Finland of course de facto took part in blockade of Leningrad, with border and troops some 60km from Leningrad. Finland also had concentration camps for "non-finnish" people in eastern Karelia.

But what does it say about Russia, that they for some reason didn't care about these victims for 80 years? That they didn't use the war reparations Finland paid to aid them? And now that relations are souring, now they bring them up. Seems very callous and calculating to me.

Allies had a control commission in Finland after WWII and Finland held war tribunals. Tribunals were for war crimes Finland found itself and all that were named by the control commission. This included the wartime government. After the war the state police became "red" and it hunted around for all sorts of people. Like Lauri Törni for treason.

So the question is, why didn't the allied commission put people on trial for this genocide and siege of Leningrad? They had all the rights to do so. Soviets and Finland wasn't buddy buddy, it was "To annex or not to annex"-time as Germany was beaten. Friendship agreements came later. Could it possibly be, that for the siege of Leningrad Finland was controlling the old border (which is a small portion of the encirclement) but not actively attacking, meaning that it was seen as a mostly German operation. Unfortunately we can't go and ask Stalin anymore.

What is actually still open are the Soviet war crimes and atrocities from the 20's, 30's and beyond. They were never properly investigated and no-one was put on trial (victors). This includes killing of civilians, interment of Finns in Winter war. Killing of "untrustworthy" ethnic groups like Finns that had moved to soviet union from Americas and Finland. And the transportation (which accounts to large number of deaths) of Finns, Ingrian Finns and Estonians + other finnic peoples to Siberia. Finland of course had no way to bring these up in the tribunals as Finland was deemed solely responsible for the war with other axis power.

Edit: And of course the big elephant, war didn't start in 1941 like Russians would like. They would also have to come in terms with 1939, and admit who was the initial aggressor in eastern europe with Germans. Russian president Yeltsin already admitted that about winter war.

Finally, I have my own tips for some better propaganda. Instead of going "EvEryOne ThaT AttaCked uS WerE FasCists and FascisM iS RisIng aGaIn!!" how about mixing in some reality?

"WWII Finland that allied with the Nazis was a liberal democracy. The wartime Parliament was mostly made of predecessors of National Coalition, Social Democrats and the Center party. And now this National coalition is running the country, with the nationalist Finns party. They are bringing evil Nato HQ and troops to Finland. Social democrats took Finland to evil Nato..." etc.

 

[PEMM]

The court stated that during the Finnish occupation, eight thousand civilians and eighteen thousand prisoners of war were killed in the concentration camps of the Republic of Karelia.

According to the court's calculations, the total amount of damage caused by the occupation to the economy and infrastructure of Karelia is more than 20 trillion rubles at the current exchange rate, i.e. 200 billion euros.
A serious warning from the FSB

The Russian security service FSB issued a warning that bribery attempts have occurred during the trial.

The FSB claims that some foreign entity has tried to bribe Russian journalists and bloggers to produce anti-Russian content in connection with the trial against Finland.

The security service reminds that producing anti-Russian content can lead to a charge of treason, which can result in a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

Suomi syytteessä rikoksista ihmisyyttä vastaan – Oikeudenkäynnissä omituinen käänne

Venäjän turvallisuuspalvelu FSB väittää, että ulkomaiset tahot yrittävät vaikuttaa Suomea vastaan käydyn oikeudenkäynnin kulkuun.

www-iltalehti-fi.translate.goog

Finland supposedly caused damages of 200 billion euros.

I guess current Russia doesn't recognize the war reparations of the Paris peace treaty and the Moscow armistice. Wouldn't this also make the ceding of territory invalid? Finland controlled plenty more land on the ground when the armistice was signed.

Last war reparation train departed on 30.8.1952. If all the trains that contained reparations were put one after another, the length would be 3600km.

Finns worked for six years for soviet union for free.

Kuuden vuoden urakka

Hävityn sodan seurauksena Suomi tuomittiin maksamaan Neuvostoliitolle jättimäiset sotakorvaukset. Koko maan tuotanto oli valjastettava kuudeksi vuodeksi korvausten maksuun. (1.1.1951)

areena.yle.fi

 

[PEMM]

Some more nonsense in Russian tv.

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Some problems with this narrative:
1. Right after Finland was recognized by the Bolsheviks, they proceeded to arm Finnish red guards who started a civil war.
2. Then they proceeded to attack Finland in 1939
3. Soviets didn't "forgive", instead many things had to be given
4. Trade is not some gift, it's usually mutually beneficial aka Finnish ships for Russian oil
5. Trade with the Western countries was always of much greater significance than the trade with Russia/USSR
6. Soviets killed numerous ethnic finns and sent them to Siberia, as well as mistreated Finnish POW's. It's ridiculous to paint a picture in which only Finns did bad things in Soviet-Finnish conflicts
7. Finns were not nazis, instead the the country was a parliamentary democracy run by pretty much the same parties that run the country today. Parroting "Nazi...Nazi" doesn't change that. And neither does alliance with Nazi Germany, unless we then agree that the Soviets were capitalists and the Americans were Communists. Nazis were a political movement and they were not in power, and neither were fascists as their coup completely failed in 1932.

 

[Picanha]

My son got told in school that for the Russian schoolchildren the second world war now started in 1941...according to their new history books.

 

[PEMM]

Now Russian propagandists want to believe that southeastern Finland (that has been Finnish through history), belongs to them through some hockus pockus rule.

And they are also claiming Finland has some territorial claims... Which they must have concluded after huffing some paint.

Russian propaganda is already catching a piece of the southeast corner of Finland - "Three provinces in the risk zone"

Do you know what is meant by the "generous gifts" given by Tsar Alexander I to Finland?

Or what are we referring to when we talk about the "original historical lands of Russia" in Finland's possession?

Or what is it about when a pro-Kremlin blogger calls to take away from the "ungrateful pig Finns" the lands that the Russian Empire had kindly donated to Finland?

It is about the so-called Old Finland area, where Russian propaganda has now set its sights.

Above all, however, it is about the false history policy pursued by Vladimir Putin's administration, says Jussi Nuorteva, ex-director of the National Archives.

- This is yet another example of how Putin has made Russia an invalid treaty partner that no neighboring country can trust anymore, Nuorteva describes.

- Everything is aimed at changing the Russians' own understanding. We invent all kinds of different stories, according to which Russia would have the right to take over the territories that at some point in history were part of the Russian Empire.

Jussi Nuorteva was the director general of the National Archives before his retirement in 2022. Photo: Sami Kero / HS

The interest of Russian propagandists is now focused on the so-called Old Finland area, which Sweden lost to Russia already in the early 18th century in two different parts.

In the peace of Uusikaupunki in 1721, Sweden had to hand over to Russia first the Finnish territories that stretched from Vyborg to Sortavala and Käkisalmi. In the Peace of Turku in 1743, Sweden lost to Russia the territories that started from Kymijoki in front of Kotka and progressed through Hamina, Lappeenranta and Savonlinna towards the eastern border.

Russian propaganda now also claims that this area called Old Finland is actually "historical Russian land". The justification is that these areas were annexed to the Russian Empire several decades before Sweden lost all of Finland to Russia and the Grand Duchy of Finland was established at the end of the Finnish War (1808–1809).

In the Russian Empire, the Grand Duchy of Finland was initially called "New Finland". It wasn't until 1811 that Tsar Alexander I decided that the governorate of Vyborg, or Old Finland, was incorporated into autonomous Finland from 1812.

The map of the Vyborg Governorate shows the area of Old Finland, which Sweden lost to the Russian Empire in the beginning of the 18th century in two different peace treaties. Photo: National Archives

According to Noorteva, however, it was not a benevolent gift from the tsar.

- Alexander I did it in a forced situation. Napoleon was preparing a war against Russia and the Tsar was afraid for his entire empire. If Sweden had attacked St. Petersburg at the same time in order to regain the territories of Finland that it had previously lost, the whole of Russia could have fallen, Nuorteva describes.

- Alexander I then made an agreement with Sweden. Sweden was promised Norway as compensation for Finland, and Old Finland was annexed to autonomous Finland, in order to appease any Finns who might rebel.

For his part, Jyrki Paaskoski, who studied the history of old Finland, reminds us that in the governorate of Vyborg it was mainly a "completely Finnish area" and it cannot be claimed as historical Russian lands. Only a few holdings in Käkisalmi province had an Orthodox population, but the rest of Old Finland was Lutheran in religion and Finnish in culture and population.

- Even during the tsarist rule, Swedish laws and the Swedish taxation system were in force in the governorate of Vyborg for a long time, and Russia did not even try to move the Russian population there. Only the upper structure of the administration was gradually Russianized, Paaskoski describes.

Jyrki Paaskoski refutes the claims spread by Russian propagandists about "historical Russian lands" in the Southeast corner of Finland.

The story spread by Russian propagandists paints that now, allegedly, "increasing territorial demands towards Russia" in NATO-Finland may lead to Finland having to give Russia back the rest of Alexander I's generous gifts.

- Today, these land areas belong to the provinces of South Savo, South Karelia and Kymenlaakso in Finland, the pro-Kremlin propaganda site Tsargrad writes in a recent article.

Tsargrad has titled his story like this:

- Finland is one step away from returning Alexander I's generous gift - there are three provinces in the risk zone.

The actual article starts like this:

- If the Finns don't stop making territorial claims to Russia, they might lose some of their own territories. The ones that the Tsar of Russia gave them.

According to Tsargrad, the Russian presidential library has recently published several documents that remind us of this "historical right" of Russia to the southeast corner of Finland.

Propaganda articles also emphasize that according to the international principle, autonomous regions should break away from the mother country within their borders

Venäjän propaganda havittelee jo palaa Suomen kaakonkulmasta – ”Riskivyöhykkeellä kolme maakuntaa”

Kremlin propagandistit ovat ryhtyneet levittämään tarinaa, jonka mukaan niin sanottu Vanhan Suomen alue kuuluisi palauttaa Venäjän haltuun.

www.is.fi