Living next door to Russia: How the Moscow War in Ukraine brought about a seismic change in Finland
“A Russian is a Russian,” the old Finnish saying goes, “even if you fry him in butter.”
While political leaders have warned against holding individual Russians responsible for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, this one sentence – that all but the Russians taste better after being fried in butter – sums up the cautiousness ingrained in the national psyche when it comes to their attitudes. huge eastern neighbor.
A 1,300-kilometer-long border – the longest in the European Union – two hundred years of colonial history and two bloody wars in the 20th century (not to mention a couple of decades of Finnishization, when the Kremlin had the last word on all major political decisions), Finns want to think they know something about Russia.
However, even the most ingenious Finns were surprised by the pace of development on February 24, when Russia invaded Ukraine.
In just two weeks, seismic change has already taken place in Nordic politics, business and society. And the issue of joining NATO, which has long been the subject of public debate, has become the number one topic of political debate from southern Hanko to the northern Utsjoki River and beyond.
It is certainly a question of good ventilation – or, using another Finnish sentence, the cat is placed on the table.
“I think everything has changed in a few weeks. The European Union has changed a lot. And the debate has changed completely. And it’s understandable when people are very scared,” he says. Jussi SaramoDeputy Director of Finland Left Alliance party, one of the five governing coalitions.
In light of Russia’s attack, the Left Alliance is launching an internal debate to reform and update its foreign and security policy – perhaps even moving to a more positive NATO, which was impossible to think about this time last month.
That party and the entire government have already crossed some invisible line when they approved the export of offensive weapons to Ukraine for use against Russia. The Finnish assumption of not pushing a bear has been thoroughly rejected.
Most politicians are still wary of the NATO issue
Finland’s security policy timeline can be divided into an era before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when only two parties in parliament supported applying for NATO; and after the attack, every Finnish party is now actively considering the issue of membership in the military alliance, and many MPs openly changed their minds about applying.
The rhetoric that preceded Vladimir Putin’s attack threatened Finland with political and military consequences if it made NATO openings: and if Putin intended to silence the Finnish debate, he was badly wrong.
But it has not been completely cut and dried: a survey of all 200 MPs this week asking whether Finland should join NATO received 58 “yes” answers. Only 9 came straight out and said no, while 15 said maybe and 118 did not respond at all, suggesting that many MPs are still working out their own position.
Two recent opinion polls found that (within the margin of error) 50 per cent of Finns are in favor of joining NATO, with some MPs likely to expect a steady fluctuation in public opinion – although support is now higher than ever.
Jussi Saramo says that he is impressed with the way in which President Niinistö, who heads foreign policy outside the EU, has worked with the leaders of all parliamentary parties, not just the ruling parties, to find an agreement during the crisis in Ukraine.
“I think it is a very Finnish way of working on this issue,” the MP from Southern Finland tells Euronews.
“Our message has been that everyone should stay calm. It is not the case that Putin is attacking Finland tomorrow, he has a lot of problems in Ukraine right now. So we have time to analyze it and act properly without panic. Although it seems that some parties and some media are causing people to panic [about the imminent need to apply to join NATO] without reason.”
Consumers are pushing the wholesale business out of the Russian market
If the discussion on Finland’s security policy status has progressed rapidly, then the interaction of Finnish companies with Russia has become a hot topic just as quickly.
Although only 4% of Finnish exports go to Russia, and trade collapsed in both directions During the COVID pandemic, the Helsinki Chamber of Commerce estimates that 90% of Finnish companies will be affected in some way by sanctions and divestments in Russia. Given the common border between the countries and the myriad personal contacts, it is perhaps not surprising how deeply the impact is felt.
Over the past two weeks, Russian products have been cleared off the shelves of Finnish supermarkets; Russian vodka is absent from state-owned Alko stores; Finnish companies say they will stop using Russian raw materials in their products, selling consumer goods imported from Russia and selling their own products in the Russian market.
Even the food chain Lidl, The upcoming campaign for food from Eastern Europe says it will not sell any “Russian” products, even though they are not actually made in Russia.
One of Finland’s two major retail chains S Group – with annual revenues of more than 10 billion euros – will close and sell more than a dozen supermarkets in Russia and try to find buyers for its two Sokos brand hotels in St. Petersburg, too, when fast sales come in a day.
Companies that didn’t move fast enough like the fast food chain Hesburger, feel the reaction of the public – “like a bear shot in the ass”, as Finns would say. The company first announced it would keep its 44 restaurants in Russia and Belarus open when it closed its outlets in Ukraine, but had to retreat within a few hours of a negative public uproar.
Even a beloved Finnish confectionery and bakery brand Fazer it had to admit that it was slow to react to evolving events before it finally shut down its business interests in Russia – but not until false images of its own blood-soaked chocolate bar were widely distributed on social media, including politicians.
“I think the reaction on social media has been very strong. Consumers have reacted strongly. And because we have a lot of Finnish consumer product companies in Russia, they were required to leave immediately or at least publish some difference,” he explains. Pia Pakarinenmanaging director Helsinki Chamber of Commerce.
The Finnish labor market ideal has also been turned upside down in a few weeks: in general, the rights of employees would be a big consideration for Finnish companies when making business decisions. But faced with an almost immediate exit from the Russian market, which has gone out the window.
“The public is usually opposed to layoffs, and mentioning their well-being would be a good sign. But in this case, it means nothing,” says Pakarinen, the deputy mayor of the Coalition.
Protection of the Russian population in Finland
The legacy of Finland’s long history with Russia and the product of geography are the tens of thousands of Russians who make Finland their home and the thousands of other Finns who speak Russia as their mother tongue.
The country’s leaders and even its security services have received a strong message to ensure the safety of these people.
“There is no place in Finland for any kind of violence or vandalism against ordinary people, regardless of where they are or what language they speak,” the Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in early March between the vortex of diplomatic meetings with its Swedish and Estonian counterparts. His ministers have also traveled around the region to negotiate with their Nordic and Baltic opponents.
In rare political unity, Finnish parliamentary parties expressed support for people of Russian descent, demanding that they not be discriminated against or harassed “because of the war started by the Kremlin.”
“No one is to blame for the situation in Ukraine simply because of its origin or language,” the parties said.
In a country that can often be quite established in many respects, Finns have seen an unprecedented change in Russia over the past two weeks.
All change comes at a price: whether it is the removal of a Soviet-era peace statue in Helsinki Park; the impact of trade sanctions on so many companies; Finnair’s services were canceled because they could not fly over Russia to their main Asian markets; and the political and cultural upheaval around security and NATO.
But it seems that so far the Finns have largely accepted this development and paid this high price.
Or using another Finnish expression, they are willing to pay the price of strawberries.