#At the onset of the Second World War, the USSR demanded Finland cede substantial border territories for strategic defense purposes in exchange for land elsewhere. When Finland refused, the Soviet Union invaded Finland on November 30, 1939, instigating what would later be known as the Winter War. At the time, the Soviet foreign minister was Vyacheslav Molotov, who was known for being the architect of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany, which stipulated that Germany