In November 1942, a Russian spy was executed by firing squad in Finland. The Russian intelligence officer was smiling as he was executed.

 In November 1942, a Russian spy was executed by firing squad in Finland. The Russian intelligence officer was smiling as he was executed.

The photo was taken in Lukajärvi, East Karelia, which was occupied by Russia and Finland in November 1942. The Finnish Defense Forces kept photos of Russian prisoners of war and their fates confidential.There were concerns that pro-Soviet elements in Finnish society might use the images. In 2006, the Finnish Ministry of Defense declassified the photos. In the final moments of his life, he had accepted his fate. There, he bled and his life came to an end. His smile was his final act of defiance.

The classification of the photo, which had been kept secret since 1942, was lifted. During the harsh Winter War between Finland and Russia, a young Russian man was killed in two separate incidents. He was shot before dying in the snow. When the revolver was pointed at his head, he looked straight into the camera and was shot dead in the cold snow, bleeding to death.

A rare historical photo shows a Russian spy smiling just before being executed in Finland.The Russian spy smiled. This photo was declassified by the Finnish Ministry of Defense in 2006. It is described as “An unidentified Soviet intelligence officer moments before being shot, Finland, 1942.” 

Finland was allied with Germany and at war with the Soviet Union. This was not the previous Winter War but the Continuation War.By 1942, Finland had been caught up in the Siege of Leningrad (which starved to death over 1 million civilians). Finland refused to directly support the siege, despite the front lines being only about 30 km away, and remained largely uninvolved. 

For Finland, World War II began when the Soviet Union invaded Finland during the Winter War, and Finland fought a bitter battle.In the Continuation War, Finland allied with Nazi Germany to reclaim the territory lost in the Winter War. When the Nazis betrayed the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union became one of the “good guys.” In the Lapland War, Finland conducted separate peace negotiations with its allies. The Soviet Union effectively became “the enemy of the enemy” and expelled the Nazis from Finland.