Editing Winter War (section)

===Peace negotiations===
While the Finns attempted to re-open negotiations with Moscow by every means during the war, the Soviets did not respond. In early January, Finnish communist [[Hella Wuolijoki]] contacted the Finnish Government. She offered to contact Moscow through the Soviet Union's ambassador to Sweden, [[Alexandra Kollontai]]. Wuolijoki departed for [[Stockholm]] and met Kollontai secretly at a hotel. On 29 January, Molotov put an end to the puppet [[Terijoki Government]] and recognized the Ryti–Tanner government as the legal government of Finland, informing it that the USSR was willing to negotiate peace.<ref name="Trotter 2002 pp. 234"/><ref>[[#Enkenberg|Enkenberg (2020)]], p.215</ref>

By mid-February, it became clear that the Finnish forces were rapidly approaching exhaustion. For the Soviets, casualties were high, the situation was a source of political embarrassment to the Soviet regime, and there was a risk of [[Franco-British plans for intervention in the Winter War|Franco-British intervention]] (which was overestimated by Soviet intelligence in February and March 1940<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rentola |first1=Kimmo |title=Intelligence and Stalin's Two Crucial Decisions in the Winter War, 1939–40 |journal=The International History Review |date=1 October 2013 |volume=35 |issue=5 |pages=1089–1112 |doi=10.1080/07075332.2013.828637 |s2cid=155013785 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07075332.2013.828637 |issn=0707-5332 |access-date=6 August 2022 |archive-date=6 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220806160555/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07075332.2013.828637 |url-status=live }}</ref>). With the spring thaw approaching, the Soviet forces risked becoming bogged down in the forests. Finnish Foreign Minister Väinö Tanner arrived in Stockholm on 12 February and negotiated the peace terms with the Soviets through the Swedes. German representatives, not aware that the negotiations were underway, suggested on 17 February that Finland negotiate with the Soviet Union.<ref>[[#Trotter2002|Trotter (2002)]], pp. 246–247</ref>

Both Germany and Sweden were keen to see an end to the Winter War. The Germans feared losing the [[Swedish iron-ore mining during World War II|iron ore fields in Northern Sweden]] and threatened to attack at once if the Swedes granted the Allied forces [[right of passage]]. The German invasion plan, named ''Studie Nord'', was later implemented as [[Operation Weserübung]].<ref name="Edwards_261">[[#Edwards2006|Edwards (2006)]], p. 261</ref> [[Leon Trotsky]] opined after the war that Hitler would view a Soviet occupation of Finland as a threat to this plan. Any potential German plans for bases in Finland would also be thwarted if the Soviets occupied Finland, though Trotsky himself believed that Hitler was not interested in occupying Finland, but rather its role as a buffer between Germany and the USSR.<ref name="ML">{{cite journal |last1=Lähteenmäki |first1=Maria |title=Bad blood and humiliation: Finns' experiences of the Moscow peace negotiations in 1940 |journal=Nordia Geographical Publications |date=1 January 2014 |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=101–113 |url=https://nordia.journal.fi/article/view/65103 |language=en |issn=2736-9722 |access-date=6 August 2022 |archive-date=6 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220806160502/https://nordia.journal.fi/article/view/65103 |url-status=live }}</ref>

As the Finnish Cabinet hesitated in the face of harsh Soviet conditions, Sweden's King [[Gustav V of Sweden|Gustav&nbsp;V]] made a [[statsrådsdiktamen by Gustaf V|public statement]] on 19 February in which he confirmed having declined Finnish pleas for support from Swedish troops. On 25 February, the Soviet peace terms were spelt out in detail. On 29 February, the Finnish Government accepted the Soviet terms in principle and was willing to enter into negotiations.<ref>[[#Trotter2002|Trotter (2002)]], pp. 247–248</ref> Red Army commanders wished to continue the war as their forces were starting to make progress against the Finns, whereas the Communist Party pointed out that the war was becoming too costly and called for the signing of a peace treaty. The party believed that Finland could be taken over later by means of a revolution. The heated discussion that ensued failed to yield any clear result and the matter went to a vote, in which the party's opinion prevailed and the decision was taken to bring hostilities to an end.<ref name="ML" />