Ryti penned the 1944 Ryti–Ribbentrop Agreement – named after himself and Joachim von Ribbentrop – a personal letter to Nazi German Führer Adolf Hitler whereby Ryti agreed not to reach a separate peace in the Continuation War against the Soviet Union without approval from Nazi Germany, in order to secure German military aid for Finland to stop the Soviet Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive against Finland.

[2] His resignation soon afterwards allowed his successor, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, to bypass the agreement and make peace with the Soviet Union once the offensive had been stopped.

In 1934 he was awarded a British honour, being created a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) due to his great merits in Anglo-Finnish relations.

The peace agreement, in which Finland lost large land areas and faced the burden of resettling 400,000 refugees, was generally considered crushing.

President Kallio suffered a stroke in August, and also he had no great experience in foreign policy, so the heavy responsibilities of state leadership were shared by Ryti, Field Marshal C.G.E.

Thus the cooperation begun in late 1940 ultimately developed in 1941 into preparations for re-annexation of the territories lost after the Winter War,[18] in case Nazi Germany were to realize the rumoured plans for an assault on the Soviet Union.

Our peace loving people, which for more than a year have strained to utmost to once again rebuild their country to flourish in the aftermath of the previous war, has once again been made the target of vicious attack.

Having been left wanting for military assistance during the 1939-40 winter war, we had no choice except for during the dark moments of night on the March 13th conclude peace with Soviet Union, which after the successful defensive battles conducted with substantial casualties felt paralyzing to us.

In order to totally deprive Finland of any defensive capacity against attack by their immense military forces, the Soviet Union demands both the naval base of Hanko as well as building of the Salla railway.

The argument for renting of Hanko base has been stated as being that, the Soviet Union must have this key area of the Gulf of Finland in order to secure the safety of their large seaside city of Leningrad.

During the peace negotiations Soviet Union notified as final and absolute point of view that the reached agreement fully meets the demands of USSR.

Likewise, the Russian negotiators assured the peace agreement guarantees safety of the railway running North-west of Lake Ladoga, which the USSR considered to be important for their network.

After the concluded severe battles, considerable losses and wanting for assistance of field equipment; our country was totally defenseless against possible further attacks by Soviet Union.

In order of safeguarding to at least some measure the existence of our country, the cabinet of Finland commenced talks designed to achieve formation of a Northern League of Defence.

In respect of the same foreign policy matter the Soviet Union further three times with threatening note intervened in our right of self determination: on the 27th of September 1940, on our independence day of the same year, and two weeks following that, on the December 18.

Soviet Union’s political and fiscal demands over and above those stated in the peace terms extended to many different matters and become from Finland’s security point of view ever increasingly precarious.

When this was pointed out as a way of warding off the demand, Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Molotov cynically announced that the Soviet cabinet had not bought the matter of the Åland Islands forward in connection of peacemaking because this may have disturbingly affected the peace negotiations.

Descriptive of the Soviet Union’s two-faced actions was that the nature of their demands in the matter of the Petsamo nickel mines were presented to us and to a certain interested superpower in totally different ways.

Basis for this demand was that, the Finns had originally planned the construction of these rapids to be a part of the same power station at Ensonkoski, which had been left on the Russian side of the border.

In this manner the Soviet Union with continuous pressure and repeated threats strived to strengthen their position and expand their influence in Finland, and weaken our already otherwise difficult financial situation.

We silently agreed within our minds and said it numerous times in public, that we must conquer and redeem the losses attached to name of Karelia with domestic renewing and clearing works within our new borders.

From Finland’s side we strived to forget suffered wrongs and humiliations, even if the Soviet Union’s against all internationally agreed rights and morals commenced attack’s wounds were stinging in the hearts of the entire nation.

In order to show our wish for peace and in hope that by agreeing to demands, open conflict could have been avoided or at least delayed, and relations with Soviet Union in some way stabilized, we consented to much flexibility.

To this end the Soviet Union’s Prime Minister and Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Molotov during the negotiations at Berlin during 12–13 November 1940, accordingly only 7 months following the Peace of Moscow demanded from Germany unconstrained right to resolve the matter with Finland and liquidate this country.

Additionally, certain other nations have commenced military operations against Soviet Union, forming a continuous front stretching from North Atlantic to Black Sea.

Our hardened defence forces enter battle for freedom of our fatherland, living space of our people, faith of our ancestors, and the free society system equally courageous and ready, but better armed and equipped than during the previous war.

As all of them men and women who on either the front or in their various tasks in home regions, enthusiastically sacrifice their work and exertion for our defence, so also the entire internally united people at this important moment stimulate the spirit of arms and guide the resolution for implementation of even more justness within community.

A considerable number of members of parliament were not excited by the idea of crossing the old borders, but obviously Ryti convinced Tanner and the Social Democrats to remain in the cabinet despite their opposition to the conquest of East Karelia.

Ryti's mandate as president was intended to extend only through the rest of Kallio's term, i.e., to 1943, but as the government could not organize elections during the Continuation War, the electors from 1937 gathered to re-elect him.

Probably none of them thought that Ryti would resign soon, and thus give his successor a free hand to break ties with Germany and to start peace negotiations with the Soviet Union.