VISIT OF FINNISH DELEGATION TO VYBORG, USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700150382-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2011
• Sequence Number: 382
• Publication Date: December 14, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/13: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700150382-0
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT Geographic - Cities
HOW
PUBLISHED Monthly periodical
WHERE
PUBLISHED Helsinki
DATE
PUBLISHED Jan 1953
LANGUAGE Finnish
DATE DIST. /// Dec 1953
NO. OF PAGES 1
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
During September-October 1952, a delegation Zn-ot further identified.7 from
Vuoksenniska, Finland, visited the USSR. Upon their return, the members of
the delegation gave the following account of their observations:
After the Leningrad express crossed the border from Vainikkala, Finland,
the general impression created by the border landscape was that there was no
resident population. Only a few dwellings appeared to be occupied, perhaps by
the families of border guards. The fields were untilled and overgrown with
trees on the edges. Signs of life began to appear near Viipuri (Vyborg? for
example, in Hovinmaa and Tienhuara, where the delegates saw people in the fields
and cattle in the pastures, and where there was the customary hustle of people
in the :stations. Al,' these former Finnish stations now have Russian names.
During a 2-hour stop at Viipuri, the passports of the delegates were
collected for stamping. Meanwhile, the delegates left the station to tour the
city. They found the streets almost as busy as formerly, with all the rubble
from the war cleared away. There had been no reconstruction of buildings, how-
ever, and the destroyed sections were merely fenced off. They found the street-
cars well patronized.
The delegates stopped in some stores, which they found crowded with shoppers.
Merchandise appeared plentiful, and the display windows were attractive.
The Viipuri railroad station, which was damaged considerably during World
War II, is being reconstructed. Appearances indicate that it will be a magnifi-
cent building. The end of the building which remained undamaged, still houses
the station offices. No attempt has been made to reconstruct the bus station,
which is in ruins.
Leaving Viipuri, the delegates found brisk activity on the remainder of the
Karelian Isthmus. Some distance out of Viipuri, the railroad was joined by
another line carrying electric trains filled with vacationers. The Terijoki
vicinity in particular had an almost international atmosphere, owing to the
popularity which it has attained as a summer vacation area. -- K. T.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/13: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700150382-0
CLA.'-S;F''JA1!'D'; RESTRICTED ' i~i;lna7ll.,
CENTRAL REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS UD h_.