Risto Ryti

President of Finland

Risto Heikki Ryti 3 February 1889 Huittinen, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire

25 October 1956(1956-10-25) (67) Helsinki, Finland

19 December 1940 – 4 August 1944

Fifth President of Finland (1940–44) Risto Heikki Ryti (Finnish pronunciation:  ; 3 February 1889 – 25 October 1956) was 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 as prime minister during the Winter War and the Interim Peace. Later he served as president during the Continuation War. After the war, Ryti was the main defendant in the Finnish War-responsibility trials. Ryti was also particularly well known as the author of the Ryti–Ribbentrop Agreement (named after Ryti and Joachim von Ribbentrop), a personal letter from Ryti to German Führer Adolf Hitler whereby Ryti agreed not to reach a separate peace in the Continuation War with the Soviet Union without approval from Nazi Germany, in order to secure German military aid for Finland to stop the Soviet offensive.