What triggered the Soviet attack on Finland in 1939’s Winter War?
On Nov. 26, 1939, the Russian village of Mainila near the Finnish border was bombed by members of the NKVD – predecessors to the KGB. The attack was used as an excuse to launch an invasion into Finland that would later become known as the Winter War. Finland’s President, Sauli Niinistö, on Feb. 19, 2022, compared the pre-Winter War period in Finland to the current situation in Ukraine. According to Niinisto, soviet leader Joseph Stalin thought he would divide the Finnish people to take over Finland._x000D_
Did Russia fake an excuse to invade Ukraine?
_x000D_On Feb. 18, 2022, the press service of the “People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic” – a separatist pro-Russian group in Ukraine – published a fake video claiming to show a sabotage operation targeting chlorine tanks in Donetsk. The soundtrack of shooting and explosions was found to be recorded in 2010 during a Finnish military exercise. The film’s creators appear to have lifted the original Finnish video from the internet. On Feb. 22, members of Russia’s Federation Council voted unanimously to allow Putin to use military force outside the country — effectively formalizing a Russian military deployment to Ukraine’s rebel regions.