Russian President Vladimir Putin has voiced support for building memorials to honor Red Army soldiers who died in a 1939-1940 war with Finland.

Putin said Thursday at a meeting with military historians that Soviet dictator Josef Stalin launched the war to "correct mistakes" made in drawing the border with Finland after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

Putin says the Red Army sustained heavy losses because of errors, but it mobilized to make Finland "feel all the power of the Russian, then Soviet state," according to Russian news agencies.

The Soviet Union attacked Finland in November 1939, and the Winter War ended with a peace treaty in March 1940 that left the Soviets with significant territorial gains. The Red Army lost up to 150,000 soldiers, and about 20,000 Finns were killed.