Porosozero

Porosozero Поросозеро
Rural locality
Flag
Location of Porosozero
Porosozero Location of Porosozero Porosozero Porosozero (Karelia)
Coordinates: 62°43′9″N 32°43′37″E
Land	Russland
Federal subject	Republic of Karelia
Time zone	UTC+3 (UTC+03:00 )
Postal code(s)	186855
OKTMO ID	86650443101

Repola and Porajärvi in 1920. The border between Finland and Soviet Union after 1940 is also shown.

Porosozero (Russian: Поросозеро, Finnish: Porajärvi) is a countryside and parish inside Suoyarvi area in the Republic of Karelia. Before 1920 it was a municipality in the Ladoga Karelia by the Finnish border.

The countryside is located along with the Suna River. It has 4.100 inhabitants (1996). The main source of livelihood is the forest industry.

History

The municipality of Porajärvi was established in 1873.

After Finland's declaration of independence the parish became an issue in Finnish-Russian relations when its population held a vote in August 1918 to join Finland. The Finnish Army moved to occupy Porajärvi in October. In the Treaty of Tartu, 1920, Finland gave up her claims on Porajärvi and the neighbouring Repola, and instead received Petsamo in the far north.

The inhabitants of Porajärvi did however not give up, and in 1921 they started a rebellion against the Bolshevik. The resistance movement, the Metsäsissit (literally Forest Guerillas) received volunteers from Finland and managed to capture large parts of East Karelia. The Bolsheviks fought back, and in 1922 the last guerillas withdrew to Finland.

During the negotiations prior to the Winter War Stalin offered Repola and Porajärvi in exchange for a smaller area on the Karelian Isthmus. The offer was rejected.

Repola was occupied (1941–1944) by the Finnish 14th Division during the Continuation War, until it was recaptured by Soviet forces.