Editing Continuation War (section)

===German and Soviet expansion in Europe===
{{see also|Germany–Soviet Union relations before 1941}}
[[File:Spb 06-2017 img02 Spit of Vasilievsky Island.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Vasilyevsky Island]] in [[Saint Petersburg]], pictured in 2017. During the Winter and Continuation Wars, [[Leningrad]], as it was then known, was of strategic importance to both sides.]]
After the Winter War, Germany was viewed with distrust by the Finnish, as it was considered an ally of the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, the Finnish government sought to restore diplomatic relations with Germany, but also continued its Western-orientated policy and negotiated a war trade agreement with the United Kingdom.{{sfn|Vehviläinen|2002|p=77}} The agreement was renounced after the [[Operation Weserübung|German invasion of Denmark and Norway]] on 9 April 1940 resulted in the UK cutting all trade and traffic communications with the Nordic countries. With the [[Battle of France|fall of France]], a Western orientation was no longer considered a viable option in Finnish foreign policy.{{sfn|Vehviläinen|2002|p=78}} On 15 and 16 June, the Soviet Union [[Occupation of the Baltic states|occupied the Baltic states]] almost without any resistance and Soviet [[Puppet state|puppet regimes]] were installed. Within two months Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were incorporated into the USSR and by mid–1940, the two remaining northern democracies, Finland and Sweden, were encircled by the hostile states of Germany and the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Vehviläinen|2002|p=79}}

On 23 June, shortly after the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states began, Soviet Foreign Minister [[Vyacheslav Molotov]] contacted the Finnish government to demand that a mining licence be issued to the Soviet Union for the [[nickel]] mines in [[Pechengsky District|Petsamo]] or, alternatively, permission for the establishment of a joint Soviet-Finnish company to operate there. A licence to mine the deposit had already been granted to a British-Canadian company and so the demand was rejected by Finland. The following month, the Soviets demanded that Finland destroy the fortifications on the [[Åland|Åland Islands]] and to grant the Soviets the right to use Finnish railways to transport Soviet troops to the newly acquired Soviet base at Hanko. The Finns very reluctantly agreed to those demands.{{sfn|Vehviläinen|2002|p=80}} On 24 July, Molotov accused the Finnish government of persecuting the communist [[Finland–Soviet Union Peace and Friendship Society]] and soon afterward publicly declared support for the group. The society organised demonstrations in Finland, some of which turned into riots.{{sfn|Vehviläinen|2002|p=81}}{{sfn|Kirby|2006|p=218}}

Russian-language sources from the post-Soviet era, such as the study ''[[Stalin's Missed Chance]]'', maintain that Soviet policies leading up to the Continuation War were best explained as defensive measures by offensive means. The Soviet division of occupied Poland with Germany, the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states and the Soviet invasion of Finland during the Winter War are described as elements in the Soviet construction of a security zone or buffer region from the perceived threat from the [[capitalist]] powers of Western Europe. Other post-Soviet Russian-language sources consider establishment of Soviet [[satellite state]]s in the [[Warsaw Pact]] countries and the [[Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948]] as the culmination of the Soviet defence plan.<ref>{{harvnb|Baryshnikov|2002v}}: "The actual war with Finland began first of all due to unresolved issues in Leningrad's security from the north and Moscow's concerns for the perspective of Finland's politics. At the same time, a desire to claim better strategic positions in case of a war with Germany had surfaced within the Soviet leadership."</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.aroundspb.ru/finnish/kozlov/part_01.php|title=Финская война. Взгляд "с той стороны"|last=Kozlov|first=Alexander I.|year=1997 |language=ru|trans-title=The Finnish War: A look from the "other side"|quote=After the rise of National Socialism to power in Germany, the geopolitical importance of the former 'buffer states' had drastically changed. Both the Soviet Union and Germany vied for the inclusion of these states into their spheres of influence. Soviet politicians and military considered it likely, that in case of an aggression against the USSR, German Armed Forces will use the territory of the Baltic states and Finland as staging areas for invasion—by either conquering or coercing these countries. None of the states of the Baltic region, excluding Poland, had sufficient military power to resist a German invasion.|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071209182941/http://www.aroundspb.ru/finnish/kozlov/part_01.php|archive-date=9 December 2007}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Meltyukhov|2000}}: "The English–French influence in the Baltics, characteristic for the '20s and early '30s, was increasingly limited by the growth of German influence. Due to the strategic importance of the region, the Soviet leadership also aimed to increase its influence there, using both diplomatic means as well as active social propaganda. By the end of the '30s, the main contenders for influence in the Baltics were Germany and the Soviet Union. Being a buffer zone between Germany and the Soviet Union, the Baltic states were bound to them by a system of economic and non-aggression treaties of 1926, 1932 and 1939."</ref> Western historians, such as [[Norman Davies]] and [[John Lukacs]], dispute this view and describe pre-war Soviet policy as an attempt to stay out of the war and regain the land lost due to the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] after the fall of the [[Russian Empire]].{{sfn|Davies|2006|pp=137, 147}}{{sfn|Lukacs|2006|p=57}}