'If you want to defeat your opponent properly, you have to know him properly': special propaganda against the Finnish army in 1939-1944

Finland has now joined NATO, which requires Russia to review its information warfare policy at the interstate level. This determines the relevance of referring to the historical experience of Soviet special propaganda against the Finnish army and the population of this country in historical retrospect. Based on the analysis of archival documents, the article examines the experience of organizing special propaganda for the Finnish army and population during the Soviet-Finnish and Great Patriotic Wars, and evaluates the effectiveness of the forms and methods of this work. It has been established that the search for optimal forms, methods and means of special propaganda continued continuously, until Finland's withdrawal from the war. It is concluded that in order to increase the effectiveness of information impact, it is necessary to take into account the cultural, social, and political characteristics of Finns.