The Finns had many reasons to turn down the Soviet proposals . Finland had started negotiations for a military co-operation with Sweden , and the Finns had great hopes for the joint Finnish – Swedish defense for the Ålands islands and did not want to jeopardize these negotiations . In addition , the violent collectivization , purges , show trials and executions in Stalin 's Soviet Union had given the country a bad reputation . Furthermore , most of the Finnish Communist leadership in the Soviet Union was executed during the Great Purge . The Soviet Union did not therefore seem to be a reliable contracting party . The Soviet envoys sent to negotiate with Finns were officially of relatively low rank , but as Väinö Tanner put it later , the Finns assumed rightly that they represented of some higher organ of State , probably the Soviet secret police NKVD
purges
Great Purge
Background of the Winter War