Hanski wrote:
But for Prof Baryshnikov in recent times, what is his motive to keep publishing only old Stalinist views, when there should be free access for researchers to a wider variety of sources?
It has been my experience with the Russians so recently as the summer of 2013 that there is some sort of resurgence of old political attitudes. They're not overtly Communist, let alone Stalinist. It's more of a Krushchevian-Brezhnevian thing.
The Russians have a very long tradition of using professors and journalists to push out materials which support geopolitical objectives. For example, the Third Section (Third Department, depending on translation) of Nicholas I's Private Chancellery gave a financial reward to a journalist for publishing an article about Russia's historic right to Lithuania. This was in the 1830s.
In conjunction with Putin's efforts to quell the Western drift of Baltic nations (especially given the three Southern Baltic nations have joined NATO), it might be that Professor Baryshnikov is simply carrying on this Russian intellectual tradition.
The purpose of such things is not to sway foreign political opinion, because obviously calling the Finns fascists doesn't work to bring them on to the Russian side in anything. It's to invoke old cultural memories and stereotypes to reduce the domestic recoil from actions the Russian government might take to intimidate other governments.
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As to discussions about artillery fire, it was recorded that you could walk on the southern side of the street in the lee of buildings much more safely than on the northern side, because most of the artillery fire was coming from the south. I know this from what is said in museums in Saint Petersburg, the former Leningrad. This was not an absolute rule, the Germans could of course fire from more directions than just magnetic south.
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Regarding the cutting of northern supply routes, that's not historically supported. A major point of friction between German and Finnish commands was that the Finns did not use their units, who were deemed better for operations in Karelian and Arctic terrain, to attempt a major thrust to cut the lines of communication from Murmansk. The most that was done were a series of commando raids by Finnish and some German forces. Until the Lend Lease program began in earnest, supplies did not come from the north, they went to the north: it's also important to remember that only the winter of 1941-1942 was terrible in Leningrad, and that from 1942-1944 the supply situation was much better. There are a variety of factors for this, but in short, the Finns are not culpable for any of Leningrad's suffering.
The Russians don't, in terms of the average Ivan, think so either. At least according to the guys I spoke to and the popular histories on display in Saint Petersburg this past summer.
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Randwick, I have no idea what you're trying to say.
