Finnish-Soviet “Note Crisis” 50 years on

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On October 30th, 1961, a crisis broke out in relations between Finland and the Soviet Union, when the Soviet government sent a diplomatic note to Finland proposing military consultations under the terms of the 1948 Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance.
      The note was generally seen as a thinly-veiled threat of military intervention. Occurring shortly before upcoming presidential elections, it was also was seen as a way of helping promote the re-election of President Urho Kekkonen, whom the Soviet leaders felt comfortable with. In the wake of the crisis, Kekkonen’s most serious rival, Olavi Honka, who was endorsed by both the National Coalition Party and the Social Democratic Party, dropped out of the race.
      After his successful resolution of the crisis, Kekkonen was easily re-elected, and his standing as guarantor of good neighbourly relations was solidified.
      Some Kekkonen critics have even asserted that the President "ordered up" the note to bolster his position, but it is probably more reasonable to believe the Soviets were the active party, with the motive of ensuring Kekkonen's re-election in 1962 and continuity in Finnish foreign policy.
     
News of the arrival of the note came while Kekkonen was in Hawaii in connection with a tour of the United States. The following is a translation of Helsingin Sanomat coverage of developments at the beginning of the crisis, as well as summaries of foreign coverage of the event, as published by Helsingin Sanomat at the time.
     
     
Fifty years ago in HS:
     
      Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii, 31.10. (UPI) Finnish President Kekkonen arrived here on Monday evening after resting on the island of Maui. The only event to interrupt his vacation was a brief negotiation held by Kekkonen’s closest men at Hamoa Beach Park near Hana.
      Attending the brief meeting held under a picturesque tree were Foreign Minister Ahti Karjalainen, Finnish Ambassador to the US Richard Seppälä, and press secretary Max Jakobson.
     
The President and these three men, who were all dressed in “unofficial” bright Aloha shirts, sat on a bench by the waves of the blue Pacific Ocean and discussed a proposal by the Soviet Union for a new treaty between the Soviet Union and Finland to protect the borders of these countries against a possible attack by West Germany and its allies.
      The meeting was held after Kekkonen had spoken by telephone across the Pacific Ocean with the Finnish delegate to the United Nations in New York.
     
Karjalainen home today to prepare response to note
     
      Foreign Minister Ahti Karjalainen suspended his visit to the United States yesterday and is arriving home today at 5:00 PM to start preparations resulting from the request for negotiations sent by the Soviet Union to Finland on Monday.
      President Urho Kekkonen’s return from the United States to Finland will take place on Friday as scheduled.
      The impact of the unexpected note from the Soviet Union has already been reflected in political circles; the view was advanced among non-communist opposition parties that the present minority government of the Agrarian League [later renamed the Centre Party] is on a footing that is too narrow to handle the political situation caused by the note. Representatives of the National Coalition Party, the People’s Party, and the Swedish People’s Party submitted an initiative to this effect to Deputy Prime Minister Eemil Luukka in the afternoon.
      However, possible government formation talks will be put off until President Kekkonen has returned home. The government held an extraordinary meeting concerning the note, but according to an official statement, this was a preliminary fact-finding meeting, and it will continue today after the note in its original form has arrived by courier and becomes available to the government.
     
     
Coverage of foreign reactions:
     
     
Le Monde editorial: Is Finland’s balancing act being destabilised?
      Paris, 31.10. (Pajunen) Moscow’s note to the Finnish government appears, above all, to be a warning, notes the prestigious afternoon newspaper Le Monde in its editorial on the matter on Tuesday. The reasons given by the paper include certain questions that it leaves open, but Le Monde points out at least one thing as a certainty: the Soviet note is a brutal reminder to Finnish leaders that geography dominates the fate of their country.
     
     
Germany calls accusations in note ridiculous
      Berlin, 31.10. (Kontio) In the view of the government of West Germany, the purpose of the note sent by the Soviet Union to Finland is to support Moscow’s “aggressive foreign policy”. A statement issued by the Foreign Ministry in Bonn refers to the fact that the note was delivered to Helsinki at the same time that the Soviet Union detonated its super-bomb regardless of the objections of the non-communist world. At the same time the statement rejects claims of the belligerent nature of NATO.
     
     
Sweden waits for Finnish stand; Government holds extraordinary meeting – Upgrading defence considered
      (From the Helsingin Sanomat correspondent) Stockholm, 31.10. (UPI) Sweden’s political and military leaders met for urgent talks on Tuesday, and newspapers wrote about the intimidating note from the Soviet Union under thick headlines. It was revealed that military readiness had been strengthened, and that Prime Minister Tage Erlander promised to give Parliament a detailed statement on Sweden’s defence situation within two weeks.
      These measures left no doubts that the government considers the situation serious. In an official statement issued after the government’s hour-long extraordinary meeting, Erlander said, nevertheless, that there will be no detailed comments on the Soviet note before Finland decides on its stance.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / Re-published in print 1.11.2011
     


See also:
  BACKGROUND: Just routine for the Cold War years (14.6.2005) (see long footnote)

Helsingin Sanomat