The central question for this study is, how Finland, as a country exemplifying peaceful coexistence, the Soviet foreign policy doctrine since 1956, became unreliable in foreign policy terms from the Soviet viewpoint towards the end of the 1950's. What was the significance of domestic political instability for foreign policy of both the Soviet Union and Finland? Were there any changes in the negative Soviet attitude towards European integration during the 1950s, and what were differences in the Soviet attitude towards Finland and the Scandinavian countries regarding participation to it?

A better understanding of Soviet-Finnish relations between 1956 and 1959, and Soviet foreign policies in general can be reached through two main vantage-points. Firstly, on the level of international relations, the bilateral relations between the USSR and Finland must be seen as an asymmetric relationship between a socialist superpower and a minor capitalist state. On this basis both exceptional and general characteristics related to the Cold War conflict arise. This study emphasizes the general characteristics in the Night Frost Crisis of 1958–1959, when taking it as a case study of the larger process of redefinition that took place in Soviet-Finnish bilateral relations. Secondly, an explanation of the Soviet foreign policy as a whole requires the observation of the interdependence between domestic politics and the unexpected consequences of the ideological reforms of 1956, and the influence of these two processes on the formation of Soviet foreign policy objectives in global, regional as well as bilateral level during 1956–1959.