The Treaty of Tartu (Russian: Тартуский мирный договор; Finnish: Tarton rauha; Swedish: Fredsfördraget i Dorpat) was signed on 14 October 1920 between Finland and Soviet Russia after negotiations that lasted nearly five months.

The Old Finns wanted to keep ties to St. Petersburg close and argued against an independent Finland, hoping not to agitate the Russian monarchy and further limit Finnish autonomy.

[3] As the Bolshevik ideology formally subscribed to each people's right for self-determination and condemned any form of imperialism, Lenin saw the opportunity to promote his public support for the Finnish declaration as a showpiece of benevolence of the new Soviet system.

However, the move for independence, Soviet support and general uncertainty and unrest in the society encouraged the militant left to attempt to duplicate the success of Russia's recent revolution, and soon after, the Finnish Civil War began.

In total, 37,000-38,500 people died as a result of the Civil War, and 76,000 prisoners - of which 100 were executed - were captured by the Whites in cooperation with the German forces.

Nevertheless, some nationalistic and rightist elements in Finnish Parliament still considered the planned treaty as going too far, even shameful, by giving up some of the initial negotiation goals and shattering their ideals of a greater national state including also eastern territories settled from ancient times by Finnic Karelian people, which never belonged to the Autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland.

[6] Some of those districts were annexed from Russia by Finnish military expeditions in 1918 shortly after Russian soviet government granted independence to Finland.

Also, Finland agreed to disarm the coastal fortress in Ino, opposite the Soviet city Kronstadt located on the island of Kotlin.