Risto Ryti

Abstract is: Risto Heikki Ryti (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈristo ˈhei̯kːi ˈryti]; 3 February 1889 – 25 October 1956) served as the fifth president of Finland from 1940 to 1944. Ryti started his career as a politician in the field of economics and as a political background figure during the interwar period. He made a wide range of international contacts in the world of banking and within the framework of the League of Nations. Ryti served (1939–1940) as prime minister during the Winter War of 1939–1940 and the Interim Peace of 1940–1941. Later he became president during the Continuation War of 1941–1944. After the war, Ryti was the main defendant in the Finnish war-responsibility trials (1945–1946), which resulted in his conviction for crimes against peace. Ryti penned the 1944 Ryti–Ribbentrop Agreement (named after Ryti and Joachim von Ribbentrop), a personal letter from Ryti to Nazi German Führer Adolf Hitler whereby Ryti agreed not to reach a separate peace in the Continuation War against the Soviet Union without approval from Nazi Germany, in order to secure German military aid for Finland to stop the Soviet Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive against Finland.