In obscure seminar, Northern Fleet commanders discuss lessons learnt from war against Finland

Aleksandr Chapenko was among the lecturers in the Northern Fleet’s ‘military-historical conference’ on the Winter War. In December 2024, he was host for Finnish propagandist Janus Putkonen during the latter’s visit to Murmansk.
Photo: Chapenko’s VK page

Head Commander of Russia’s Northern Fleet Konstantin Kabantsov invited propaganda-telling historians to a discussion about the 1939-1940 Winter War and “lessons that can be drawn in the context of the current military-political situation.”

Admiral Kabantsov on August 13 organised what he called a ‘military-historical conference’ in the premises of the Northern Fleet command in Severomorsk. 

The discussion was about the Winter War and its significance for Russia’s ongoing war efforts.

The event, which had the official title ‘Applying the experience of the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940 in the context of the modern military-political situation’ was held as Russia and its armed forces are increasingly strained. After more than 3,5 years of war, the country has lost several hundred thousands men, many of them from Northern Fleet units.

According to Admiral Kabantsov there are lessons to be learned from 1939 and 1940.

In an opening remark, he highlighted the role of the Northern Fleet in both wars. 

“This war [the Winter War] was the first serious test for the young Soviet Northern Fleet, during which the sailors of the Northern Fleet gained combat experience. We are holding a military history conference with the aim of studying the causes of the war, analysing the course of the fighting and the tasks that the Northern Fleet had to accomplish.”

With the event, Kabantsov sent a covert signal to Finland, the nearby country that became member of NATO shortly after the Russian onslaught on Ukraine. Based on its bitter experiences of Soviet aggression, the government in Helsinki today provides major support to Ukraine and also significantly strengthens its own armed forces. 

Four so-called experts on international relations were invited to the event in Severomorsk along with analysts from the Northern Fleet itself.

It became a ludicrous meeting.

Among the historians that lectured was Aleksandr Chapenko, an assistant professor at the Murmansk Arctic University. Chapenko is a passionate organiser of historical war reenactments and actively publishes photos on his Titovka Garnison VK page. Until recently, he was also leader of the regional unit of the Russian Historical Society.

Apparently, Chapenko was the host when Finnish pro-Russian propagandist Janus Putkonen visited Murmansk in December 2022. 

Among the speakers was also Denis Semenov, also he an assistant professor of history at the Murmansk Arctic University. Apparently, Semenov also teaches at the Nakhimov Navy School in Murmansk.

Vladimir Baryshnikov is Professor and Head of the Department of Modern and Contemporary History at the St. Petersburg State University. He has published widely on Finland and its war history. Baryshnikov has participated in propaganda shows on Russian state television. In July 2024, he was among the debaters in one of Anatoly Kuzichev’s shows where several wild statements were made about the Nordic state.

In the seminar in Severomorsk was also the Northern Fleet’s own historian Dmitry Ukryukov, who has written several works about WWII and the German submarine fleet. 

It is not clear what exactly was discussed by the participants in the ‘military-historical conference,’ but it hardly reflected actual historical realities in a truthful manner.

The Soviet attack on Finland came after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact where Stalin and Hitler agreed to divide neighbouring countries into interest spheres. 

It was a deal between the two biggest tyrants of the 20th century. 

Like in Russia’s current war of aggression against Ukraine, the Soviet aggression against Finland was started by a repressive and bloodthirsty dictator in the Kremlin. 

After taking control over Poland and the Baltic countries, the Soviet Union on November 30, 1939, attacked Finland.

It ended in bloodbath. More than 150,000 Red Army troops are believed to have been killed in the three and a half months long war. Finland was ultimately forced to sign a peace deal, where it ceded 9% of its territory to the Soviet Union.