In an abrupt diplomatic maneuver that immediately recalled the prelude to the Winter War of 1939-40,* Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko summoned Veteran Finnish Ambassador Eero A. Wuori to the Soviet Foreign Ministry. Somberly. Gromyko handed him a 2,500-word note demanding consultations, under a 1948 mutual assistance treaty, "for ensuring defense of both countries from the threat of a military attack by Western Germany and allied states."
The U.S. and Britain received the news grimly. Washington saw the "absurd" pretext of a German threat as the opening bid for stationing Soviet troops on Finnish soil while diverting attention from Soviet pressure...
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