Editing Winter War (section)

==== White émigrés and Russian prisoners-of-war ====
Finland officially refused overtures from the anti-Soviet [[Russian All-Military Union]] (ROVS) for aid. Nevertheless, Mannerheim eventually agreed to establish a small Russian detachment (''Russkaya narodnaya armiya'', RNA) of 200 men after being introduced to [[Boris Bazhanov]], a high-ranking ROVS member, in person in January 1940. The project was deemed top secret, and was under the auspices of the intelligence division of the Finnish army headquarters.<ref name="Yle_Jormanainen">{{Cite web | url=https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11254603 | title=Venäläisemigranttien talvisota – Mannerheim hyväksyi huippusalaisen suunnitelman bolševikkien vastaisen sotavankiarmeijan perustamisesta | publisher=[[Yle]] | author=Jormanainen, Heli | date=15 March 2020 | accessdate=8 June 2022 | archive-date=17 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217145822/https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11254603 | url-status=live }}</ref>

The ranks of RNA were to be filled by prisoners-of-war, but it would be commanded by White émigrés instead of captured Soviet Army officers, who were deemed unreliable. Bazhanov's Finnish assistant Feodor Schulgin chose Captain Vladimir Kiseleff, Lieutenant Vladimir Lugovskoy, Anatoly Budyansky and brothers Nikolay and Vladimir Bastamov as officers for the unit. Of the five, the Bastamovs were not Finnish citizens, but had [[Nansen passport]]s. The prisoners-of-war were trained in [[Huittinen]], although it is possible that some were also trained in [[Lempäälä]].<ref name="Yle_Jormanainen"/>

RNA never participated in battle, despite Boris Bazhanov's later claims to the contrary in his memoirs. About 35 to 40 members of it were present during a battle in [[:fi:Ruskeala|Ruskeala]] in early March 1940, where they spread flyers and broadcast propaganda to encircled Soviet troops, but did not carry weapons. The men were subsequently detained by Finnish forces, who mistook them for Soviet infiltrators. After the war's end, Bazhanov was immediately asked to leave Finland, which he did. Finnish military historian [[:fi:Carl-Fredrik Geust|Carl Geust]] presumes that most members of the RNA were executed after they were returned to the Soviet Union after the war. Additionally, Vladimir Bastamov was later extradited into the Soviet Union as one of the [[:fi:Leinon vangit|Leino prisoners]] in 1945, and was sentenced to 20 years of hard labour. He was released after Stalin's death and returned to Finland in 1956.<ref name="Yle_Jormanainen"/>