Return of Porkkala by Soviets 50 years ago had strings attached

Final reason for return of leased military base near Helsinki still unknown

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Finns got unexpected good news 50 years ago when the Soviet Union unexpectedly announced that it would return the military base of Porkkala to Finnish control ahead of schedule.
      Under the interim peace agreement of 1944, Finland agreed to lease Porkkala, an area of around 1,000 square kilometres, just west of Helsinki, to the Soviet Union.
      Although the original lease agreement was to be for 50 years, the Soviets left already on January 26th, 1956.
     
Finnish political scientists taking part in a special Porkkala seminar on Tuesday were still not sure exactly why the Soviet Union decided to give the area back to Finland.
      A number of different reasons for the return were offered at the seminar, which had been arranged by the Finnish government. It also came out that the return of Porkkala did have some strings attatched.
      Jari Leskinen, who is perhaps the most knowledgeable expert on the Porkkala question, noted that when the area was handed back, Finland agreed to extend its treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance with the Soviet Union by another 20 years.
      Leskinen pointed out that the FCMA treaty tied Finland to the Soviet sphere of influence in all areas from politics to culture.
      Professor Juhani Suomi said that the return of Porkkala may have been linked with attempts by the Soviet Union to persuade the United States to dismantle its military bases from Turkey and other areas near the Soviet Union.
     
The move also helped the Soviet Union boost the standing of Finnish President J.K. Paasikivi and Prime Minister Urho Kekkonen, both of whom had been invited to Moscow to hear the decision.
      The announcement came shortly before Finland’s Presidential election.
      Kekkonen’s party, the Agrarian League (later the Centre Party), used the event to its political advantage; during the election campaign it was even suggested that as President, Kekkonen might succeed in securing the return of the ceded areas of Karelia.
      Nevertheless, Juhani Suomi emphasised that Porkkala was returned "primarily to Paasikivi", and that Kekkonen was the Soviets’ second favourite for the Finnish Presidency.
     
It was also suggested at the seminar that by 1955 Porkkala had become unnecessary for the Soviet Union both militarily, and as a base for reconnaissance activities.
      Professor Martti Turtola noted that the Estonian coast on the south shore of the Gulf of Finland had been fortified by the Soviets, and that new missiles reduced the value of Porkkala as a Soviet outpost; blocking a naval attack against the Soviet Union via the Gulf of Finland no longer required military presence on both shores.
      Dr. Kimmo Rentola observed that the focus of Soviet surveillance activities at that time had shifted to the KGB and political intelligence-gathering.
      Major Petteri Jouko had found a British assessment, according to which the return of Porkkala was one of the ways in which the Soviet Union hoped to discourage Sweden from joining NATO.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Sixty years ago: Parliament within range of Soviet guns (29.9.2004)
  Porkkala: A Finnish white spot (21.5.2000)

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