Struggle in Soviet Russia

After communicating with Lozovsky and Kollontai about some possible intelligence information, Victor walked to a corner of the meeting room and asked the staff to move a chair over—there was only a big oval table in the meeting room. , Specially prepared for negotiations, Victor did not intend to sit down at the table.

At today’s meeting, Victor was in attendance as nonvoting delegates, and was also required to attend the meeting as nonvoting delegates. There was also Sergey Matveyevich Shtemenko from the General Staff, and he was reappointed as a people of the house not long ago. Merkulov, commander of the General Directorate of Border Forces of the Committee.

Shtemenko returned to Moscow from the front for a short time. Prior to this, he had been the chief of the operations division of the Caucasus Front Army. The reason why he returned to Moscow was because he was promoted and appointed. He became the first deputy director of the Operations Department of the General Staff Headquarters.

In terms of talent, Shtemenko is a very outstanding staff officer. In Victor's previous life, the divided Russia judged him as one of the best nine staff officers during the Great Patriotic War.

As everyone knows, Comrade Stalin is a very picky person in his work, and when dealing with the work of the General Staff, he attaches great importance to the issue of the selection of the director of the Department of Operations. When Vasilevsky was qualified as the chief of the general staff, Antonov was recommended, but Comrade Stalin did not approve of this.

Antonov was also very sad. During the seven months he served as the Minister of Operations, he was often scolded by Comrade Stalin. Therefore, Antonov has repeatedly asked to resign from the post of Minister of Operations.

After Shitemenko took office as the first deputy minister of the war department, he also did not get the approval of Comrade Stalin. However, after reading the plan for the summer operations on the southern front that Štemenko personally drafted, Comrade Stalin's views changed. . Now, every time he inquires about the situation on the front line, he does not call Antonov at all, but directly calls Shtemenko over. If nothing goes wrong, Antonov’s position as the head of the operations department, I’m afraid. It's not long to sit.

It can be seen from the list of non-voting attendees that, including Victor, the people who came to attend the negotiation were the second or third-in-command from several powerful departments. Comrade Stalin, who gave the order, thinks that these departments have It is necessary to understand the specific situation of the negotiation.

Near ten o'clock, all the staff in the venue left the venue. Then, after a short time, a large group of people walked into the meeting room while talking.

Victor watched coldly and found that among the people who walked in, only five people he did not know, they should all be representatives of the Finnish side, plus the Finnish delegation leader Pasikvi, who he can recognize, and a must-have. The interpreter stated that there are five negotiators on the Finnish side.

Among the remaining people, there are Livinov, Gromyko, Bogmolov and Lozovsky. If nothing else, the negotiators of the Soviet side today are the four of them. Go to Molotov.

It is normal for Gromyko and Bogmolov to be able to attend today’s negotiations. One is an ambassador to the United States and the other is an ambassador to the United Kingdom. If nothing else, the Finns’ delegation also includes this. Two roles, after all, plenipotentiary representatives from the United Kingdom and the United States are present today.

As for Lozovsky's attendance, it is also reasonable. He is the deputy people's committee of the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs and is mainly responsible for the work in Northern Europe.

What Victor didn’t understand was why Livinov also appeared here. This is not a person that Comrade Molotov likes. His nickname is “Molotov’s Foot Wipes”. When needed, Comrade Molotov would take it for use, and when it was no longer needed, he would immediately be thrown into a corner far away.

Victor was thinking about it in his heart, and a group of people walked in as soon as a figure flickered at the door.

Seeing this group of people walk in, the people who had just sat down in the meeting room stood up. Even Victor was no exception. For nothing else, it was because the head of the group was Stalin in a white navy uniform. Comrade.

Among those who walked in with Comrade Stalin, besides Molotov, there were Stemenko and Merkulov, but in front of them, there were two guys in suits. Personal Victor also knows, it is Aiden and Hull who represent Britain and the United States respectively.

Comrade Stalin walked into the meeting room and stood at the door. His eyes patrolled the faces of the people. Then he raised his right hand, pressed it down, and said, "Sit down, today, our diplomat. Comrades are the protagonists here."

After a pause, he went on to say: "On behalf of the People’s Committee of National Defense and the Soviet government, I’m here to make a statement. We hope to make progress in the negotiations, end the confrontation with Finland on the northern line as soon as possible, and rebuild peace. But the basic point of everything is that the basic terms of the armistice we put forward at the Stockholm Conference will not change. The four basic clauses of the armistice have no room for concession. This is the fundamental position of the Soviet government and the Soviet people."

After speaking, he turned around, shook hands with Hull and Aiden who were behind him, and went straight out.

Before and after, when Comrade Stalin stayed on the venue, he did not stay for more than a minute. After he left the house, the few Finnish representatives sitting on the left side of the conference table looked at each other, presumably not knowing how the following negotiations should proceed. .

The Stockholm meeting referred to by Comrade Stalin refers to the first negotiation between Su and Finland in February. In the negotiations at that time, Molotov threw the negotiation conditions proposed by the Soviet Union to the Finns, and immediately turned and left. According to Comrade Stalin just now, the conditions for the armistice proposed by the Soviet Union this time were still those of the Stockholm Conference. share.

Since the Soviets refused to give up, what is the significance of this negotiation? After all, the previous armistice conditions were too harsh for the Finns, and they were impossible to accept.

After sending away Comrade Stalin, Stemenko and Merkulov walked to Victor and sat down in a chair. Merkulov and Victor never dealt with each other. Will say hello.

But Shtemenko took the initiative to shook hands with Victor, and the smile on his face was also vivid.

However, Victor's heart was very clear that the newly-emerged staff member in front of him could not go on the same path as himself. He was Beria's close comrade-in-arms, not only him, but Antonov. Therefore, the General Staff also has factions, but it is not easy to distinguish it if it is not carefully divided.

Comrade Stalin was sent away, and Molotov, wearing a black suit, quickly returned to the conference room. He took a seat in the center of the Soviet delegate seat and asked the secretary to distribute a pile of photocopy materials, one by one, even Victor. All three also got a copy.

This photocopied material should be the conditions for the armistice proposed by the Soviet side. There are indeed four conditions, which are very rough. First, the Soviet-Finland border in 1940 was restored and Bechenga was ceded to the Soviet Union. At the same time, Hanko was leased to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union; second, war reparations; third, Finland broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, and detained German troops in Finland; fourth, reorganized the Finnish army.

This is the basic item of a negotiation. The two parties should discuss these four items, but it is obvious that the first and third items are not discussed. The Finns must fully accept it. The only thing that can be negotiated is the compensation. How much and how the Finnish army is adapted.

As soon as he got the photocopy of the document, Basikivi, as the head of the Finnish delegation, protested. He did not question the content of Article 3, but opposed the provisions of Article 1. He believes that the border issue should be renegotiated, and Finland will at most lease Hanko to the Soviet Union. This is Finland's bottom line.

Next, there is a dispute between you and me. During this period, Aiden raised a question: "Assuming that part of Finland is to be handed over to the Soviet Union, in this case, will the Finnish minorities be transferred to the Soviet Union? What about the power of Finland?"

Afterwards, Hull made a brief speech on behalf of Washington. He declared that President Roosevelt mentioned in his address to Congress that Finland’s problems are unique. To resolve the problems there must go through Moscow and be proposed by the Soviet Union. Based on the framework, this is a consensus reached by Washington.

Undoubtedly, judging from the speeches of the representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States, their position is very clear. The frustration on the faces of the Finnish representatives headed by Pasikivi can be very clearly seen.

I have to admit that the country and the individual are to a large extent the same. As long as you are weak, you are easily isolated and can be arbitrarily slaughtered in the eyes of others.

For Victor, from the helplessness of the Finns, he realized another problem: people, it's really important to be with the boss!

Look at the Finns. They had obviously regarded the Germans as their saviors before. As soon as the Soviet-German War broke out, they thought that the savior had come and they could turn themselves into serfs and sing. As a result, the savior seemed a little unreliable. Right now, the Finns had to face an extremely tragic reality-Hu Hansan was killed again.

The first round of negotiations lasted less than forty minutes, and the positions of the two parties could not be unified. In the end, Molotov proposed to temporarily adjourn the meeting so that the Finnish colleagues would have time to carefully consider whether this negotiation is not. It is necessary to continue.

For Victor, he was really not interested in this negotiation. If it hadn't been notified by the Secretariat, he would never come to attend.

In the conference room, he paid more attention to Livinov than the verbal verbalism of the representatives of the two sides, because this guy is a Jew, and according to the information submitted by the Internal Intelligence Agency, recently, some Jews seem to be engaged in ties.