Soviet Union, Finland and the Cold War

The central question for this study is, how Finland became unreliable in foreign policy terms from the Soviet viewpoint towards the end of the 1950's. A better understanding of Soviet-Finnish relations between 1956 and 1959 can be reached through two main vantage-points. Firstly, on the level of international relations, the bilateral relations between the USSR and Finland must be seen as an asymmetric relationship between a socialist superpower and a minor capitalist state. This study emphasises the general characteristics in the Night Frost Crisis of 1958-1959. Secondly, an explanation of the Soviet foreign policy as a whole requires the observation of the interdependence between domestic politics and the unexpected consequences of the ideological reforms of 1956, and the influence of these two processes on the formation of Soviet foreign policy objectives in global, regional as well as bilateral level during 1956-1959.