Porkkala (naval base)

Porkkala Naval Base was an Soviet naval base during 1944–1956 in the municipalities of Kirkkonummi, Inkoo and Siuntio at the Porkkala peninsula which is located only 30 kilometers (19 mi) from Helsinki, the Finnish capital.

The area was leased to the Soviet Union according to the 1944 signed Moscow Armistice between Finland, Soviet Union and United Kingdom. The area was returned to Finland in 1956, and currently hosts a Finnish naval base Upinniemi.

At the end of the Second World War the Soviet Union secured the rights of lease to a naval base at Porkkala, in accordance with the Moscow armistice agreement that ended the Continuation War, between Finland and the Soviets on September 19, 1944. Porkkala thus replaced the peninsula of Hanko, which had been leased to the Soviets as a naval base in 1940–41. A large area centered on the peninsula, including land from the municipalities of Kirkkonummi, Siuntio and Ingå and almost the entire area of Degerby, was leased to the USSR from 29 September 1944, ten days after the armistice. It was immediately placed under a military commander, Neon Vasilyevich Antonov (1907–1948), who remained in office till June 1945, when he was transferred to command the Amur River flotilla, in preparation for the war against Japan.

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