Past Territorial Concessions to Moscow in North ‘Not Set in Stone,’ Estonian Legal Specialist Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Nov. 2 – There are seven regions in the Baltic and Scandinavian regions where Russia has acquired territory or special rights on the basis of Cold War era agreements, Denis Polman points out, but because circumstances have changed, everyone needs to recognize that these earlier concessions are “not set in stone.”

            The seven are, the Estonian legal specialist says, Koenigsberg (Kaliningrad), Karelia, Porkkala, Hanko, the islands of the Gulf of Finland, Finland’s Aland Islands, and Norway’s Spitzbergen (Svalbard) (arvamus.postimees.ee/8575084/denis-polman-kellele-kuuluvad-konigsberg-ja-karjala  reposted at mariuver.eu/2026/11/02/komu-prinadlezhat-koningsberg-i-karelija/).

            These seven cases, Polman writes, share in the fact that they were the subjects of agreements with Moscow “when the balance of interests today is completely different from what it was in the middle of the 20^th century.” Indeed, two of the territories, Hanko and Porkkala, have already been returned to their rightful owners.

            The others remain open, he continues. The Western powers transferred Koenisberg to Moscow’s control but only until a final peace treaty for World War II would be concluded, something that has not yet happened. Karelia was transferred to Russian control by a Finnish minister who was under Moscow’s influence, something that vitiates their legitimacy.

            And both Spitzbergen and the Aland Islands gave Russia special rights but only so long as Russia observed its obligations, something it has not done. Consequently, Polman says, all these places where Russia has control or exercises special rights need to be reexamined and possibly reversed by law rather than my any military action.