Abstract. The peace Treaty between Soviet Russia and the Republic of Finland, signed in Tartu in 1920, laid the foundations for relations between the two neighboring countries. Väine Tanner, who led the reformist Social Democratic Party of Finland after the defeat of the Reds in the Civil War of 1918, was a direct participant in the peace negotiations. In his memoirs, Tanner scrupulously examines the issue of concluding an agreement with Soviet Russia through the prism of the development of domestic and world politics. His assessments sometimes coincide to the smallest detail with the assessments of Soviet diplomats who worked at the negotiations in Tartu. Referring to the history of the peaceful settlement of relations between Soviet Russia and Finland, among other things, allows us to conclude that a more realistic approach to relations with the “big eastern neighbor” would have allowed Helsinki to make the necessary decisions in 1920 that would have saved Finland from subsequent wars with the Soviet Union and significant territorial losses.
Keywords: national independence, revolution, civil war, global interests, territorial claims, peace treaty.