EU: With EU-Russian relations high on the agenda of the EU foreign affairs meeting at the weekend it was no surprise that the fortress of Lappeenranta was chosen as a venue. Just 16km (10 miles) from the Russian border, the fortress has changed hands many times in a succession of wars between Finland, Sweden and Russia over several centuries.
What was not so well known by ministers attending the meeting was the Irish involvement in one of the major battles that took place at the fortress in 1741.
Peter Lacy, who was born in 1678 in Killeedy, Co Limerick, was the Russian commander who masterminded his forces victory in the battle of Lappeenranta over Sweden.
Lacy, who left Ireland following the defeat of the Jacobite army in the 1690s, sought service in the Russian army in 1700. After a successful career, which saw his success as a field marshal in the Russo-Turkish war in 1736, he was placed in command of Russian forces in Finland in preparation for war with Sweden.
On August 23rd, 1741, the battle of Lappeenranta began with Lacy successfully marshalling his troops to a decisive victory and taking 1,250 prisoners. He ordered the destruction of the town and returned in triumph to St Petersburg. He later retired from the army to his estates in Latvia and Estonia and died in 1750 at 72 years of age.