Memorandums by M.A. Taube on the possible complications of the international legal relationships of the Russian Empire with Finland in the late XIX – early XX century

Discussions on the situation of Finland as a part of the Russian state have been particularly acute since the end of the 19^th century, when the autocracy began to take measures to limit the privileges of the outskirts of the empire. One of the factors that put this problem to the forefront was also the development of the revolutionary movement in Russia at the beginning of the 20^th century. The tsarist government needed to organize the control over the activities of revolutionary organizations in Finland as well as to solve the problem of the import of weapons across the Finnish border into the Russian territory. Thus, a special meeting on question of the Grand Duchy of Finland was created. Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were also invited to discuss this problem. The paper analyzes the memorandum by the Doctor of International Law and the Vice-Director of the Second Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs M.A. Taube, in which he investigates in detail possible consequences of revolutionary events development in Finland. The memorandum expresses a position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which, in case of rebellion, considered that it was necessary and most beneficial for Russia to recognize the Grand Duchy of Finland as «a belligerent». This option did not receive approval from the emperor and the Council of Ministers, for whom the measures in regard to Finland were considered exclusively as a domestic question.