The Finnish Democratic Republic ( or Suomen kansantasavalta, , Russian: Финляндская Демократическая Республика), also known as the Terijoki Government (), was a short-lived puppet state of the Soviet Union in occupied Finnish territory from December 1939 to March 1940. The Finnish Democratic Republic was only recognised by the Soviet Union and nominally operated in Soviet-occupied areas of Finnish Karelia from the de facto capital of Terijoki. The Finnish Democratic Republic was portrayed by the Soviet Union as the official socialist government of Finland capable of restoring peace, but lost favor as the Soviets sought rapprochement with the Finnish Government. The Finnish Democratic Republic was dissolved and merged into the Karelo-Finnish SSR upon the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty.
Creation
thumb|right|[[Vyacheslav Molotov signing an agreement between the USSR and the Finnish Democratic Republic in front of Joseph Stalin. Otto Wille Kuusinen, the prime minister and head of government, on the right side of the picture.]]
The Finnish Democratic Republic was established on 1 December 1939 in the Finnish border town of Terijoki (present-day Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg, Russia), a day after the beginning of the Winter War. Terijoki was the first town in Finland captured by the Red Army after the Soviet invasion, and the new government was seated there as its de facto capital. The Finnish Democratic Republic regime was commonly known by the colloquial name the Terijoki Government (, ), but officially the government was called the Finnish People's Government ( ). In Finnish historiography, the government is also occasionally called the Kuusinen Government ( ).
Otto Wille Kuusinen was chosen as the prime minister and head of government. Kuusinen's cabinet was made up of Soviet citizens and left-wing Finns who had fled to Soviet Russia after the Finnish Civil War.
Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov spoke to the German ambassador to the Soviet Union on 30 November—a day before the proclamation of the Finnish Democratic Republic—saying, "This government will not be Soviet but a democratic republic. Nobody will set up soviets there, but we hope that it will be a government that we can reach agreement with on safeguarding the security of Leningrad." Soviet leaflets dropped over Helsinki on the first day of the Winter War stated: "Finnish Comrades! We come to you not as conquerors, but as liberators of the Finnish people from the oppression of the capitalists and the landlords".
Relations with the Soviet Union
The Soviet government entered into diplomatic relations with the Finnish Democratic Republic's government immediately after its creation. On the first day of its existence, the Kuusinen regime agreed to lease the Hanko Peninsula; to cede a slice of territory on the Karelian Isthmus; and to sell an island in the Gulf of Finland, along with sections of the Kalastajasaarento near the Arctic Ocean to the Soviet Union. although a number of prominent left-wing activists and writers such as Jawaharlal Nehru, George Bernard Shaw, Martin Andersen Nexø and John Steinbeck voiced their support for the government. In Nazi Germany, state newspapers gave their support for the Democratic Republic because of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
The Kuusinen Government was officially recognised by the Soviet Union and the Soviet satellite states of the Mongolian People's Republic and the Tuvan People's Republic.
Dissolution
The Soviets had increasingly begun to seek rapprochement with the Finnish government during the course of the Winter War and the Kuusinen regime fell out of favor. Although the Soviets had captured two-thirds of the Karelian Isthmus, casualties were very high and the upcoming spring thaw threatened their offensive. Both sides were exhausted from the war, but the Soviets held the upper hand and successfully pressured the Finns into peace on Soviet terms. On 12 March 1940, the Moscow Peace Treaty was signed between Finland and the Soviet Union, ending hostilities the following morning. By the terms of the treaty, Finland ceded 9% of its territory to the Soviet Union, though the Soviets' attempt to conquer Finland had failed. Subsequently, the Finnish Democratic Republic became obsolete and merged with the Karelian ASSR within the RSFSR to form the new Karelo-Finnish SSR, a Soviet republic in its own right, after Finland had ceded the areas specified in the treaty to the Soviet Union.
Terijoki government
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
|-
!Minister
!In office
|-
| Chairman of the People's Government and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland<br />Otto Wille Kuusinen
| <br />1939.2.12 – 1940.12.3
|-
| Assistant Chairman of the People's Government and Minister of Finance