You are here
Home > News > Opinion: Putin’s real defeat? He destroyed imperial achievements of Tsarist and Soviet Russia

Opinion: Putin’s real defeat? He destroyed imperial achievements of Tsarist and Soviet Russia

On May 18th, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced Finland’s official application for NATO membership.In order to understand how significant and immensely historic this decision will be for Finland and Europe, we have to travel back in history over 200 years. Only when we take a step back to see the larger frame of reference will we truly be able to highlight the dimensions of a potentially immense defeat that Putin –– and specifically his imperial ambitions –– will now suffer and endure.

A historic moment like this requires a quick history lesson. Let’s begin:

In 1809, under Tsar Alexander I, Russia won the war against Sweden. Despite the conflict claiming the lives of thousands of Russian soldiers, the triumph was magnificent: Russia not only conquered Finland, which had been subordinate to Sweden for five centuries, but it fully incorporated Finnish territory into the Russian Empire as the Grand Duchy of Finland. With the title of Finnish prince, the tsar of Russia became Finland’s eminent and exclusive head of state. While the title may have been “granted” to him by the Finnish parliament, the victorious tsar was the one who’d created and convened that parliament in the first place, so he obviously controlled the means and the ends. The tsar’s practical power in Finland was always represented by a hand-selected governor-general, and that political structure lasted for over a century, only ending with Tsar Nicholas II’s abdication in 1917.

Under Russian rule, the Finns developed and nurtured their national consciousness. The initial decades of occupation actually gave them quite extensive autonomy, but by the end of the 19th century the attitude of tsarist authorities noticeably changed toward occupied peoples –– especially the Finns. Intentional and pervasive “Russification” grew the most under Tsar Nicholas II. Between 1899 and 1901, he announced a series of laws designed to inhibit and deny domestic nationalization; the laws introduced Russian as the official language, entirely liquidated Finnish currency, and incorporated the Finnish military into the Russian army. And as the early 20th century illustrated in so many countries, Russia’s imperial action provoked a popular reaction from the Finns as the Finnish nation-state became more willing and able to self-rule.

Finland proclaimed its independence in December 1917. And shortly afterwards, in the first half of 1918, it won a bloody civil war allied with a pro-Bolshevik left wing steered and supported militarily by Russian communists led by Vladimir Lenin. Nearly 39,000 people died, including more than 36,000 Finns, over 1.2% of the population at the time. The Whites –– the victorious Finnish fighters –– were headed by General Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, who’d play a decisive role again in two decades when he defended Finland against Soviet aggression during World War II and saved its statehood. Many argue that it was his decisions alone that saved Finland from becoming a Soviet republic.

Mannerheim’s role in holding back Soviet aggression and imperialism was precisely why the communists operating in Petrograd (i.e. St. Petersburg) tried to assassinate him in 1920. And it’s especially difficult for me on a personal level to resist acknowledging the Polish Legion in Finland, under the command of Captain Stanisław Bogusławski, that also took part in defeating those Reds.

Unfortunately, Finland didn’t enjoy freedom for long. A secret protocol of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact signed in Moscow in August 1939 between Soviet Russia and the Third Reich gave Stalin half of Poland, the Baltic states, and the Bessarabia region of Romania, but it also explicitly allocated Finland to the Soviet “sphere of influence.” For centuries, Finland had been strategically essential to Russia, and its earlier imperial subjugations for more than a century meant that the Russian empire viewed and treated it as its own hinterland. Therefore, immediately after the occupation of eastern Poland in the fall of 1939, Russia attacked Finland that November, starting the so-called “Winter War” (1939-40). Its goal was simple and clear: conquer Finland and incorporate it into the USSR. The first step of that goal was the creation of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic in 1940 by annexing the captured Finnish territories to the USSR. And again under the command of the time-tested strategist and politician, Marshal Mannerheim –– who’d single-handedly defeated the Reds earlier in the civil war, as I mentioned –– Finland effectively opposed the USSR and inflicted colossal losses on invading troops. The comparatively miniscule, though much braver army of Finland ultimately lost over 90,000 soldiers (with a Finnish population of only 3.5 million at the time) and therefore lost the war with Russia, but the Soviet victory was Pyrrhic. Over 120,000 Russians died in the Winter War, and around 250,000 died throughout the Continuation War (1941-44).

Nonetheless, the Soviets ultimately conquered Finland. And despite Marshal Mannerheim’s diplomatic efforts that made practical Soviet occupation of Finland impossible, the Russians subjugated Finland for decades, forcing it to sign the Finno-Soviet Pact of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance in 1948. While the appearance of deciding its own destiny remained a domestic Finnish belief, in reality Finland subjugated itself to a process of economic and political dependence, so much so that “finlandization” eventually became a term that defined indirect-yet-explicit political subordination.

Sweden and Finland joining NATO will strengthen Poland’s safety: expert

see more

For the rest of the 20th century Finland pursued a program called the “Paasikivi-Kekkonen Doctrine” named after two presidents, one of whom, Urho Kekkonen, ruled Finland from 1956 until 1982. Immediately after World War II, Soviet-influenced Finland rejected the Marshall Plan and ostentatiously refused to allow explicit contact with NATO. But because of that rigid stance, Finland was never forced by the USSR to join the anti-NATO Warsaw Pact. While maintaining a seemingly effective, though utterly incomplete, autonomy in internal affairs, Finland was controlled by Soviet pressure in international politics. The threat of military intervention by the USSR loomed over Finland throughout the Cold War. Both Khrushchev and Brezhnev never allowed the Finns to forget that reality, even for a second.

So it was only after the collapse of the USSR that Finland finally began the process of emerging from the sinister shadow of its nefarious, expansive neighbor by independently joining the European Union in 1995.

And now, 213 years after Finland first became dependent on Russia, Putin has unexpectedly foiled and thwarted over two centuries of de facto Russian rule –– or at least its implicit denial of Finland’s self-determination –– by recklessly invading Ukraine.

First and foremost, Putin’s decision to invade an independent state in modern day Europe caused a radical change in the Finns’ attitude towards their country’s identity and their opinions of joining NATO. There’s been a profound shift in the mood in Finnish society. Before Russia’s attack on Ukraine, only around 20-25% of Finns supported the idea of voluntarily joining NATO. After the aggression? As much as 75% support it.

Perhaps the Finns needed that shock of the invasion of Ukraine in order to remind themselves of their two-hundred-year relationship with Russia and perceive those implications for what they are –– the luminescence of a lightning bolt. And what did the Finns see? Terror, war crimes, humanitarian disasters, perhaps even the beginnings of “global” war. The Kiev and Mariupol bombings by the Russians and the war crimes in Bucha and Irpin remind them of exactly what they themselves had endured a couple generations back. After all, Soviet attacks on Finnish civilian targets in 1939 immediately resulted in the Soviet Union’s exclusion from the League of Nations.

The recent atrocities also gave Finns an opportunity to see that without being a NATO member, they couldn’t count on active and direct military aid from Europe, just as non-NATO Ukraine can only count on indirect, implicit aid from the US or any other country. The Finns may have finally realized what Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty actually means –– and it just might mean more to them than anyone else.

The definitive Article 5 unequivocally states that any attack on any NATO member should be treated by the other member states as an attack on themselves. Therefore, Finland’s accession to NATO is an act of Finnish self-determination characterized by high morale and national pride, among other exemplary traits. In a survey conducted before Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, 90% of men and 84% of women in Finland declared their willingness to defend their homeland –– one of the highest in Europe. Quite simply, it’s difficult to overestimate the importance of Finland’s presence in NATO. Russia will no longer share a border with an anti-NATO Finland or a neutral Finland or even a “politically intimidated” Finland. Soon enough, when Turkey’s objections are addressed and Finland is formally admitted into NATO, Russia will border the “revived and revised” North Atlantic Alliance for 832 miles. NATO will come within roughly 100 miles of St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-most populous city with a population of over five million. This absolutely strengthens the security of NATO’s eastern and northern flanks, especially the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland, basically denying Russian influence within the Baltic Sea. It reinforces European security while dismantling and ultimately destroying Putin’s plans and expectations, whose supposed preeminent reason for invading Ukraine was his opposition to NATO enlargement. Above all, it proves unequivocally that Putin’s heedless decision to attack Ukraine was an unnecessary mistake from essentially every perspective –– whether modern Russian NATO opposition, practical partition plans in the name of Russians “trapped” in Ukraine, or a foreign policy “hat tip” to Russia’s time-tested imperial traditions.

Russia supposedly lost 30,000 soldiers in Ukraine: report

see more

Russia’s attack on Ukraine resulted from that superpower mindset that values neither democracy nor prosperity, but believes political power is based exclusively on conquest and violence. The invasion was meant to be the first step in rebuilding Russia’s “greatness” that had evaporated after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Along with demanding that US troops withdraw from countries bordering Russia, Putin attacked Ukraine precisely to prevent it from moving forward with Finland’s ultimate decision: an intentional NATO membership.

In an ironic example of historic “unintended consequence,” the results of Putin’s aggression –– at least so far –– are the exact opposite of what he and his supporters had intended. NATO’s influence isn’t diminishing, it’s growing and unifying. It’s becoming quite clear that NATO will gain not only Finland, but also Sweden, which is expressing similar willingness to join the alliance. And Finland will not only modernize NATO’s military potential, but it also possesses highly developed artillery forces and one of the finest air fleets in Europe.

Ultimately, Finland’s recent announcement is redefining a crucial pivot point for the Baltic Sea region and proving that Putin’s delusional decision to invade Ukraine will symbolically revert Russia to its geopolitical status in 1808. Putin has essentially nullified the efforts of the 19th century tsars, the 20th century Bolsheviks, Lenin, Stalin, and all their Cold War successors.

Announcing the NATO decision, Finland’s president, Sauli Niinistö, stated directly: “This is a historic day. A new era begins.”

It’s a rare rhetorical moment in international politics when there is no exaggeration in a politician’s words.

Yes, indeed. Here we are. This is truly a historic day…

And a new era has indeed begun.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Top