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C. Finland declared its independence from the Russian Empire after a 1917 revolution during World War I toppled the Tsar. The army of the Soviet Union, which had replaced the Russian Empire, tried twice during World War II to annex Finland and failed. But, the Soviets did exert political leverage on Finland for many years after the war.
A. Finland became part of the kingdom of Sweden in 1362. After a series of wars with the Russian Empire, Sweden lost control of all of Finland in 1809 when it became the Grand Duchy of Finland under Russia’s tsar. Finnish and Swedish are the official languages of Finland.
D. The city on the Baltic Sea was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27 May 1703 on the site of a captured Swedish fortress, and was named after apostle Saint Peter. Saint Petersburg served as Russia’s capital for about 200 years. It was renamed Petrograd at the beginning of World War I, and named Leningrad after the death of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin. The name reverted to Saint Petersburg after the fall of Soviet Union in 1991.
B. NATO is an alliance of the United States, Canada and 28 European nations which have pledged to defend each other in response to an attack by any external party. It was formed in 1949 in response to the power of the Soviet Union. Since the Soviet Union collapsed, 14 nations – some of them formerly ruled by the Russian Empire and other former Soviet-dominated “Satellite States” – have joined NATO. Russia calls NATO’s expansion a threat to its security.