GEOFFREY ROBERTS
HISTORY PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY of CORK, Ireland, writes:

"Zofia Nowinska (Letters, 16 February) writes that “the consequences of being conquered by Stalin were much worse (for Finns) than being an ally of Hitler, so they chose the lesser evil”.

In fact, #Finland allied itself with #Nazi Germany during the second world war not to prevent Soviet conquest but to win back territories lost to the USSR as a result of the winter war of 1939-40.

The peace treaty that ended the war in March 1940 left Finnish independence intact.

It was the reckless act of joining the Nazi attack on the USSR that endangered Finland’s national existence and cost tens of thousands of lives.

In 1944-45 the Red Army could have easily occupied Finland, but Stalin chose not to, because Finnish leaders admitted error, pledged neutrality and friendship with the Soviet Union.

Finlandisation, as it was called, enabled Finland to remain free of Soviet domination/takeover.

Photo 1:
Finnish Military flag
2:
Finnish Plane

DETAILS OF THE MARIUPOL SURRENDER

Once all these supermen (and a few women) are collected, the total number of Ukrainian service-members in #Russian, #Donetsk, or #Lugansk custody will be approximately 7000 to 7500.

According to a very reliable Russian war correspondent, the breakdown of surrendering forces is as follows:

Over 2500 living personnel in total

Of whom, 404 wounded, of whom 55 non-ambulatory / seriously wounded

Approx. 200 refrigerated corpses

3 Russian and/or Donetsk prisoners (one officer, two soldiers) captured by Azov

Unit breakdown as follows:

804 members of Azov

The rest are mostly from remnants of the:
#53rd Brigade,
#54th Brigade,
#56th Brigade,
#36th #Brigade

as well as non-Azov personnel of the 12th Brigade of the Interior Ministry’s National Guard (military unit 3057, formal home of the Azov)

Those wounded not seriously, or not at all, are being transferred to prisons in the Donetsk republic…..

…..where Russian investigators intend to hold nice chats with the Azov’s…..