She gave the audience a sidelight on the Finnish vision of WWII, the main point of which is that for Finland WWII meant a separate war against the Soviet Union, in the course of which the Finns upheld their independence and the democratic political system.
The commentary of the Press and Information Board of the Russian Foreign Ministry, which has come to hand at RIA Novosti on Thursday, notes that this vision of history has become wide-spread in Finland especially in the last ten years.
"The desire to respect its past is natural of any country. The period of mutual mistrust between the Soviet Union and Finland, which led to two wars brought uncountable sufferings to the peoples of both the countries," the ministerial commentary reads.
Moscow believes that "today, 60 years later, remembrances of this common pain should not divide but bring us closer together, aim at the development of constructive goodneighbourly relations".
Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry believes that "there are hardly grounds to make corrections in history textbooks world-wide erasing mention that during the years of the 2nd World War Finland was among the allies of Hitler's Germany, waged war on its side and, correspondingly, bears its own share of responsibility for that war".
"In order to become convinced what the historical truth is, it is enough to open the preamble of the Paris Peace Treaty of 1947, concluded between Finland and the 'Allied and United Powers'. Incidentally, the 1947 Peace Treaty contained serious political clauses guaranteeing the rehabilitation in post-war Finland of the human rights and freedoms, which make up the basis of democratic society", the ministerial commentary notes.
