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The abrupt end of a promising start: the Romanian – Finnish diplomatic relations a the beginning of the 1920’s

This article approaches on the basis of fresh archival research some of the key reasons which led to the failure of the region-building process at the western periphery of Soviet Russia (Union). This research of the relations between Romania and Finland, two distant nations located at the two extremities of Soviet western border, points out to the role played by domestic agendas, cultural and political identities, lack of knowledge of each other, regional skirmishes, and outside powers intrusions as viable explanations for the fact that the cooperation between Border States remained to some extent restricted to diplomatic and intelligence sharing cooperation. It is a paradox that although the importance of the cooperation between Border States was rapidly acknowledged by policy-makers and public opinion the achievements remained well behind the projects, ambitions and interests. This article explores one of the reasons responsible for the failure of the Border States (meaning the new or enlarged nation-states neighbouring Soviet Russia (Union) in creating a larger space of security able to deter on the long run the Soviet ideological or political ambitions in the region and to shape a new durable stability inside the area. It starts from the premises that one of the clues for understanding this failure is the research of the bilateral or multilateral relations between the Border States. Because Romania and Finland were geographically situated at the two extremities of the area, a research on their bonds after the beginning of their diplomatic relations until the abrupt end of their direct diplomatic ties in 1922-1923 is relevant in answering to this question. The beginnings of the Finnish-Romanian relations following the Finnish independence and Romanian aggrandizement (on the start of the diplomatic ties between the two states, see Hovi 2005: 293-300) relationship look when seen against the background of the little and rather casual contacts the two nations had entertained very promising. The two countries grasped rather quickly their common interest in regard to Soviet Russia and the menace posed to their elites by Bolshevism. Accordingly, they were seriously trying to overcome their rather local international outlook and build a larger regional structure able to fulfil the task of deterring the ambitious political designs of Soviet Russia. Naturally, the creation of this structure was dependent on the goodwill and capacity of compromise of the many new small states in the area situated between the Baltic and the Black seas, a region traditionally marred by conflicts between its mixed nationalities. One of the main difficulties impeding the creation of a large security structure in the area was the instability prevailing throughout the region. The state-building and empire-