Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg

Zelenogorsk ( _ru. Зеленого́рск, Terijoki before 1948) is a town under jurisdiction of Kurortny District of Saint Petersburg, Russia, located in part of the Karelian Isthmus on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, and a station of the Saint Petersburg-Vyborg railroad. It is located about fifty kilometers northwest of central Saint Petersburg. Population: 12,074 (2002 Census). Its name in Finnish is Terijoki and was the same in Russian and in other languages until 1948.

Before 1917, it was part of the Grand-Duchy of Finland, ruled by the Grand Dukes of Finland, (1812–1917). Even though all of Finland was part of the Russian Empire, a customs border was in Terijoki. A valid Passport was needed for crossing the border between Russia and the Grand Duchy of Finland. Vladimir Lenin managed to travel over the border in secrecy to Finland in 1907. Later on 3 April 1917, he returned through the Terijoki border control disguised as a heater of a Finnish Railways - Finlyandsky Rail Terminal locomotive. When the Republic of Finland was established on 6 December 1917, Terijoki became a part of it, and remained so until it was given the Soviet Union in the Moscow Peace Treaty. It was regained by Finland in the Continuation War, but then lost to the Soviet Union again in 1944.

Zelenogorsk was a popular summer resort since 1870, when the Riihimäki-Saint Petersburg railroad was built, and was frequented by Saint Petersburg's upper class before the Revolution when the border was closed. After the Second World War its original Finnish population was displaced by people moved from Russia. At the turn of the century, the town's population was estimated to have been a few thousand, rising to above 50,000 in summer.

The town became known during the Winter War as the capital of Otto Ville Kuusinen's Finnish Democratic Republic.

External links

* [http://terijoki.spb.ru/en/index.php3 terijoki.spb.ru] - Site with information about the history and the modern life of Zelenogorsk/Terijoki