Suoyarvi (; ; ) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and the

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

Suoyarvsky District Suoyarvsky District (; ) is an administrative district (raion), one of the fifteen in the Republic of Karelia, Russia.Constitution of the Republic of Karelia It is located in the west of the republic on the Finnish border. The area of the dist ...

of the

Republic of Karelia The Republic of Karelia, or simply Karelia or Karjala (; ) is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia situated in the Northwest Russia, northwest of the country. The republic is a part of the Northwestern Federal District, and covers an area of ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, located northwest of

Petrozavodsk Petrozavodsk (, ; Karelian language, Karelian, Veps language, Vepsian and ) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The population of the city is 280,890 as of 2022. ...

. Population:

History

It is known that during the 16th and 17th centuries a settlement existed here known as Shuyezersky ''

pogost ''Pogost'' (, from Old East Slavic: погостъ) is a Russian historical term which has had several meanings. In modern Russian, it typically refers to a rural church and graveyard. It has also been borrowed into Latgalian (''pogosts''), Fi ...

'' (a Russian form of the local Karelian name, meaning "swampy lake"). The first documented mention dates from 1589 when Suoyarvi is recorded as church community controlled by the Orthodox community of Sortavala. In 1630, Suoyarvi became an independent community. An outcome of the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

was that most of

West Karelia Karelia (: ) is a historical province of Finland, consisting of the modern-day Finnish regions of South Karelia and North Karelia plus the historical regions of Ladoga Karelia and the Karelian Isthmus, which are now in Russia. Historical Karel ...

was occupied by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1940, when Suoyarvi was granted town status. In August 1941, the territory was re-occupied by Finnish troops, but as part of the wider post-war settlement, it reverted to the Soviets in 1944; it was the second largest territory by area (after

Petsamo Petsamo may refer to: * Petsamo Province, a province of Finland from 1921 to 1922 * Petsamo, Tampere, a district in Tampere, Finland * Pechengsky District Pechengsky District (; ; ; ; ) is an administrative district (raion), one of the six in Mur ...

) ceded by

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

to the

following the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

. Before the occupation, Suoyarvi was geographically the easternmost municipality of Finland. Suoyarvi had its own dialects of the Karelian language before the area was ceded to the Soviet Union and its inhabitants were relocated to other parts of Finland. Most of the Karelian people in the former municipality spoke a variety of South Karelian (''suvikarjala''), while the villages in the Hyrsylä ( Khyursyulya) salient, which also included Ignoila ( Ignoyla) and Hautavaara ( Khautavaara), spoke a

Livvi Livvi-Karelian (Alternate names: ''Liygi'', ''Livvi'', ''Livvikovian'', ''Olonets'', ''Southern Olonetsian'', ''Karelian''; ) is a supradialect of Karelian, which is a Finnic language of the Uralic family, spoken by Olonets Karelians (self-app ...

dialect instead.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Suoyarvi serves as the

, to which it is directly subordinated.Law #871-RZK As a municipal division, the

of Suoyarvi is incorporated within Suoyarvsky Municipal District as Suoyarvskoye Urban Settlement.Law #813-RZK

Transportation

The town serves as a railway junction along the railway line linking

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

with St. Petersburg and

. From Suoyarvi, a line branches off to Yushkozero and

Kostomuksha Kostomuksha (; ; ; ) is a town in the northwest of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located from the border with Finland, on the shore of Lake Kontoki. Population: Geography The nearest large cities in Russia are St. Petersburg and ...

. In the Cold War it was the nearest town to the

Maysionvara Maysionvara is a former Russian air base 22 km north of Suojarvi. A 1962 US satellite analysis showed a 2560 m (8400 ft) runway with no aircraft on the field.Joensuu Joensuu (; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Karelia. It is located in the eastern interior of the country and in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Joensuu is approximately , while the sub-region has a population ...

References

Notes

Sources

* * * {{Authority control Cities and towns in the Republic of Karelia Monotowns in Russia Populated places in Suoyarvsky District