Finland Marks 70th Anniversary of Shelling of Mainila
Helsinki was bombed several times during the 105 days of the Winter War 1939-1940.
Image: YLE
Thursday marked the 70th anniversary of the shelling of Mainila, a Russian village on the Finnish border, on November 26th, 1939. The Soviet Union at the time accused Finland of launching an artillery attack against the village on the Karelian Isthmus.
After the incident, the Soviet Union cancelled the Finnish-Soviet non-aggression pact, and launched air, land, and sea attacks Finland on November the 30, marking the beginning of the Winter War.
Russia has later admitted that the shelling came from Russian territory and had been used as a pretext to attack Finland.
The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs held a seminar on Thursday on the importance of media information in the Winter War, which lasted for 105 days, and was closely followed in the international press.
YLE