Porkkala

From Free net encyclopedia

Porkkala is a peninsula in the Gulf of Finland located at Kirkkonummi in Southern Finland.

The peninsula had great strategic value, as coastal artillery based there would be able to reach more than halfway across the Gulf of Finland. If the same power would also control the Estonian coast, on the opposite side of the gulf, it would then be able to block naval access from Saint Petersburg to the Baltic Sea. Porkkala is furthermore located only 30 kilometers from Helsinki, the Finnish capital, and a foreign power based there would be able to exert significant pressure on the Finnish government.

During the Cold War the Soviet Union secured the rights of lease to a naval base at Porkkala, in accordance with the armistice agreement that ended the Continuation War, between Finland and the Soviets, in 1944. A large area centered on the peninsula, including land from the municipalities of Kirkkonummi, Siuntio and Ingå and almost the entire area of Degerby, was leased to the USSR.

Despite the fact that the Soviet lease for Porkkala ran for 50 years agreement was reached to return it back earlier (negotiations ended during autumn 1955). Control was handed back to Finland in January 1956. This might be attributed to the process of Finlandization, to technological progress making coastal artillery obsolete, but the de-stalinisation of the Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushchev, and the fact that Sweden had not opted to become a member of NATO, were also important contributing factors.

At present, the Porkkala area has one of the main naval bases of Finland, located in Upinniemi near to Porkkala proper.

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