Tag: Russia

Finland’s time machine to the days of human rights abuses

Posted on by Migrant Tales

UPDATE

The very simplistic arguments used by the government to close the Finnish-Russian border suffered a short circuit in June when a Russian soldier belonging to the Wagner Group crossed the border and sought asylum from the Finnish authorities.

Watching the news Friday was like returning to the Cold War days and when Finland usually cared less for the human rights of those seeking asylum. It is also interesting to note that the Finnish media is using the same language as in the Cold War when speaking of the Russian asylum seeker.

Ahti Tolvanen, a member of the Migrant Tales board, said that the case of the Russian Wagner Group soldier raises a lot of questions. “There is a lot on this guy,” said Tolvanen. “I can’t tell if he is a refugee or war criminal. Wars tend to mix categories and create moral conflusion.”

He said that the case remined him of Amerian defectors coming to Canada during te Vietnam War. “There wa controversy about wht to do with them,” he added

“Why did it take so long for the authorities to make public the case?” he said. “Why is he called a ‘defector’ rather than ‘an asylum seeker?’ If seeking asylum is a universal human right, why are the Finnish authorities investigating the matter as ‘an illegal border crossing?'”

“Another question is why is the soldier being locked up if he is an asylum seeker?”

According to the pushback law, the reasoning was to stop Muslims from seeking asylum in Finland. What happens now when those seeking asylum are Russians?

Last year, there were some 600 cases of Russians still awaiting a decision on their asylum status from the Finnish authorities.

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Ahti Tolvanen:* On Finland’s role between two superpowers

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In the news today we hear that Trump is planning to make Greenland part of the USA “one way or another.”
Greenland is part of Denmark, our Nordic ally. We in Finland recognize a special duty to protect our Nordic allies. That’s part of why we joined NATO. The problem is that the United States controls the command of NATO and Trump is the commander-in-chief of the US military.
If the US invades Greenland, we will have to figure out quickly which side we are on.
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen reminded everybody in a speech in London that Russia is our most dangerous threat.
She was probably referring to damage to pipelines and electric cables by “the dark fleet” trading wit Russia via the Gulf of Finland. The problem is there is to date no evidence that this damage is being caused by Russia. The only pipeline damage we have any evidence on regarding sabotage is Nordstream- and all the evidence points to to blowing up the pipeline being a Ukraine-CIA joint operation.
Also in the news today is that Trump and Putin are planning to fix the pipeline and sell the gas to Europeans at a huge profit. This fits in with Trump’s announced plans to normalise relations between the US and Russia.
Meanwhile we keep sending weapons from Finland to fight and kill Russians in the Ukraine. We are keeping this up although Trump has cancelled all weapons shipments and intelligence sharing with Ukrainians. It is clear to any layman, but not the Finnish government that the US has changed sides. The government’s big accomplishment for our security was to sign a treaty with the USA giving them free access to 15 military bases so they can occupy Finland any time. We are holding our breaths waiting to see when the Finnish government realizes we are on the wrong side against two superpowers.
Expect more news from secret Finnish intelligence reports of a “hybrid threat” at the border to keep us confused of the big picture.

*Ahti Tolavanen is a regular Migrant Tales contributor and a member of the editorial board.

Linkedin: The Russians are coming!

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The Finnish media, including Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, have attacked in mob fashion Kimmo Kiljunen, member of the Social Democratic Party and chairperson of the foreign affairs committee, for speaking candidly to representatives of the Alexander Union, a Finnish-Russian association, about the Finnish-Russian border as well as other matters.

Today, an editorial by Helsingin Sanomat highlighted “the unusual problems” of Kiljunen’s comments to Alexander Union. It wrote: “In the video, Kiljunen expressed some unusual opinions on Finland’s policy towards Russia. Among other things, he said that he considers the closure of the eastern border a violation of human rights and the ban on Russian real estate transactions to be racist. Kiljunen claimed that the Finnish tabloids were playing into the hands of Russian trolls with their critical articles.”

Are the above comments “unusual” and did they warrant such outrage? Or are Kiljunen’s views similar to what human rights experts and academicians pointed out about the dangers of the pushback law, which was approved by parliament in July?

Again, we must ask what did Kiljunen say wrong? Was he too candid in his views that the closing of the Finnish-Russian border is a slap in the face of human rights, and that National Coalition Party politicians like Antti Häkkänen can reinforce prejudices that Russians are a threat and that they should be barred from buying land? Did Kiljunen step on the government’s feet?

Even if the above restrictions do not prevent Finnish-Russian residents from buying land, they do send a clear message: Russians are a threat, and they should not be trusted. The war in Ukraine and the terrible invasion by Russia have made a bad situation worse by reinforcing people’s xenophobia toward Russians.

Some politicians, including President Aleksander Stubb, have even questioned the right of Russian speakers to hold dual citizenship.

Making such a suggestion, as did happen during a presidential campaign debate earlier this year, brings memories but in a different context of the Nuremberg Laws, which stripped the Jews of their rights in Nazi Germany.

The attacks and Kiljunen’s character assassination even by his party reveal a lot about Finland’s issues with xenophobia and suspicion of its Russian-speaking community, the third largest after Finnish and Swedish speakers.

Not understanding the racism in the debate is comprehending very little about the whole issue of how Finland’s Russian community is treated.

*Read the original posting on Linkedin here.

‘Aleksanterinliitto ry’ petition to the European Parliament on the closing of the Finnish-Russian border

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight: Without Aleksanterinliitto ry, the opinions of Finland’s Russian-speaking community would not be heard loud enough. According to Alexey Bulvatsev, the closing of the border has hurt families in Finland and Russia and made travel to Russia more difficult. And adds: “According to the petitioner, Finland is likely to be in breach of EU law, firstly because Finland’s entry and transit ban on all Russian citizens entering the EU for tourist purposes is in breach of Article 6, paragraph 1 (e) of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 and Regulation (EU) 2018/1806. Secondly, in view of the petitioner, the closure of the Finnish-Russian border following cases of asylum seekers from third countries crossing the border infringes Article 26 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 and Article 27 of Directive 2004/38/EC.”

The petition asks the EU to halt Finland’s illegal policy at the Finnish-Russian border.

Alexey Bulavtsev of Alexsanterinliito ry, an association that supports and protects the rights and freedoms of Russian-speaking Finns, has submitted a petition to the European Parliament to protest the closing of the Finnish-Russian border.

European Parliament

Petition Summary

The petitioner refers to the decision of the Finnish government to completely close the Finnish-Russian border in response to the hybrid attack of the Russian Federation on Finland. Bulavtsev alleges that the public has not been informed of any facts that could link the problem of higher than usual number of asylum seekers at the Finnish border to Russia’s presumed hybrid attack on Finland. According to the petitioner, this decision had a negative impact on Finnish families with family ties to the Russian Federation, as it had become difficult for legitimate residents of Finland to travel to Russia. The petitioner alleges that the closure of the land border by the Finnish authorities has a negative impact on the conditions of the inhabitants of the Finnish regions bordering Russia and would damage the economy in eastern Finland. He states that even the postal service between Finland and Russia has been discontinued, which is why the right of Finnish residents to family life guaranteed by Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is limited. According to the petitioner, Finland is likely to be in breach of EU law, firstly because Finland’s entry and transit ban on all Russian citizens entering the EU for tourist purposes is in breach of Article 6, paragraph 1 (e) of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 and Regulation (EU) 2018/1806. Secondly, in view of the petitioner, the closure of the Finnish-Russian border following cases of asylum seekers from third countries crossing the border infringes Article 26 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 and Article 27 of Directive 2004/38/EC. The petitioner asks the European Commission to issue a regulation to the Finnish government to correct the allegedly illegal acts.

Finland’s and Estonia’s bullying of Russians

Posted on by Migrant Tales

With no solution in sight to the end of the war in Ukraine, part of the collateral damage is the Russian-speaking community of Finland, by far the biggest language group outside of Finnish, Swedish, and Sami.

Even before Russia invaded Ukraine, there was a lot of hatred and suspicion of Russians. Even if Finland signed an armistice with the former USSR in 1944, it appears that too many Finns are still in the trenches.

Some, driven by their xenophobia of Russians, would be ready to take away their dual citizenship rights. One of the most enthusiastic is former President Sauli Niinistö. A December survey showed that 34 MPS, mostly of the hard-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and National Coalition Party, would want to prohibit Russians from having dual citizenship.

So great is the hatred of brown asylum seekers and Russia that in June Finland threw its good name under the bus as a Human Rights defender and upholder by lowering itself to the same level as Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania, which deny people the right to asylum.

A study by Hannes Viimarananta, Ekaterina Protassova, and Arto Mutajoki on Russian speakers in Finland, says that such a community is commonly misunderstood.

“Russian-speakers in Finland are framed, firstly, as an immigrant group, alongside other sizeable immigrant groups. Secondly, Russian speakers in Finland are commonly [and simplistically] perceived as representatives of Russia—a powerful, and at times threatening, neighboring country…” the authors write.

The Estonian-Russian border crossing at Narva. Sources: Helsingin Sanomat and Wikimedia.

Continue reading “Finland’s and Estonia’s bullying of Russians”

Being a Russian minority in an ever-hostile Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The Eastern Finnish cities of Joensuu, Imatra and Lappeenranta are aiming to shut down Russian-language schools which has led to an intense debate about the future of such institutions. While some argue about economic factors and lack of demand for the closure of such schools, others point the finger at anti-Russian and anti-foreign sentiment.

Katja Marova, a local politician of Lappeenranta for the Left Alliance who has lived in Finland for 14 years, is concerned by the rising anti-Russian atmosphere in Finland.

Katja Marova speaking at a recent Aleksanteriliitto event.

“Of course, I am concerned about the [xenophobia] situation [in Finland],” she said. “What will our situation be [in the future] as a minority in Finland?”

Russian speakers, who number about 72,000, are by far the biggest language group in Finland after Finnish- and Swedish-speakers.

The war in Ukraine and the Finnish-Russian border crisis have not only fueled discrimination of Russians but have led to calls to question dual Finnish citizenship rights. President Aleksander Stubb, who recently visited Eatern Finland, did not mention once about the rising hostility against Finland’s Russian community.

President Stubb did, however, give his support for the so-called pushback law that would allow Finland to breach the human rights of asylum seekers.

A recent article published by Yle is a case in point on how some of the media writes about the Russian minority. For one, not one member of the Russian-speaking community is interviewed in the story. Marova said that there were mistakes in the reporting that Yle corrected.

“If the parents had not asked for the corrections, nothing would have happened,” she said. “The article gives the impression that Russian-language schools are not needed and are a waste of money, especially during these difficult economic times.”

Continue reading “Being a Russian minority in an ever-hostile Finland”

Interioir Minister Mari Rantanen and her “hybrid invaders”

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We’ll Never Know.
Yes, what Interior Minister Rantanen was thinking in introducing a law to stop “hybrid invaders” from Russia. Our ́́ investigative media` will never ask the right questions. So we can only try to imagine:

Scene: “Hybrid invaders.” Inside the Interior Ministry.

Cue Rantanen.
Rantanen (enters): Our press conference is in half an hour. Any more on the hybrid invaders.
Handler: We interviewed the 1,300 who crossed the border since last August. Half are from places like Afghanistan and Syria and seem to be running for their lives. Then there are over
400 who are just looking for a better life. Till last year, the Russian screened out these asylum seekers and we did not have these moral and legal problems.
Rantanen: Yes. Now they are passing the buck and we have to break international law ourselves. Devious plotter that Putin! Damm him!
Handler: Yes, damn him!
Rantanen: There is this blog out there called Migrant Tales which was offering a reward for anyone who anonymously volunteered to give an interview on being a hybrid invader. They say no-one came forward. No one! We need to find some way to save my law to stop hybrid invaders.
Handler: Well, Madam Minister. You did say the numbers did not matter. The important thing is to foil the Russian plot.
Rantanen: That’s true. The main thing is to foil the plot. I did say big numbers did not matter.
And “zero” is a number too- after all.
Handler: Yes. let’s just tell the press numbers are irrelevant.
Rantanen: Yes. The main thing is my historic and original initiative to keep Russia agitators behind the border.
Handler: Well there were those people in the IKL Party back in the Thirties who kidnapped hundreds of Russian sympathizers and drove them over the Russian border. They even had the courage to kidnap ex-president Svindhuvd and his wife for being communist appeasers. But that kidnapping failed. It led to the banning of the whole IKL Party.
Rantanen: Yes. That went badly. Let’s make sure to steer away from any discussion of that!
False analogy.
Handler: Yes. No false historical comparisons. And numbers of invaders don’t matter. Stopping the plot is what counts. Shall we refer to our reliable intelligence reports on that?
Rantanen: Absolutely reliable. But those intelligence reports are, of course, secret. Well, I think we are ready to meet the press, then. Let’s go.
Handler: Yes, Minister. (They exit)

Narrator: That ends our Black Box reports. What really happened we’ll never know. And our mainstream media will never ask.

Ahti Tolvanen: A war that pushes peace away

Posted on by Migrant Tales

More and more Ukrainians are fleeing for their lives to Europe as we mark the first anniversary of the Russian invasion. It seems the EU and NATO lack the political imagination to do more than worsen the refugee situation in the year ahead. So far 4 million have fled Ukraine and over 40 000 to Finland.

More tanks and weapons are promised weekly for the Ukrainian military, and peace talks continue to be dismissed and scuttled by NATO powers.

Source: Wikipedia

This week, President Sauli Niinistö announced that he would not let the nuisance of a parliamentary democratic election get in the way of Finland’s NATO membership if the Turkish president agreed to support it. What nonsense, indeed!

Who’s in charge of this crisis anyway?

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will be in Helsinki next week to make final arrangements and it would be embarrassing indeed to mention complications like elections.

Protestors expressing opposition to Jens Stoltenberg’s visit to Helsinki.
Continue reading “Ahti Tolvanen: A war that pushes peace away”

Being a Russian speaker in a Finnish border city when war rages over yonder

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Katja Marova, a Russian speaker from the border city of Lappeenranta, spoke to Migrant Tales about how the war in Ukraine had impacted her life as that of other Russian speakers in her home city. Russian speakers are the biggest group in Finland (88,000) followed by Estonian speakers (50,000). 

The Russian border is only a stone’s throw away from Lappeenranta. According to Marova, the atmosphere in her home city is different from Helsinki and other parts of Finland.

Katja Marova lives in the Finnish border city of Lappeenranta.

“The [Russophobic] situation is worse here than in Helsinki and related to fear,” she said. “Since we are next to the Russian border, people are afraid because we’d be the first to experience a military strike if a conflict broke out.”

Making matters worse are news stories by Yle on Lappeenranta’s bomb shelters and where people would be evacuated. Marova said that when people start to fear, they act strangely.

“This has led the city [of Lappeenranta] not to follow the example of other cities like Helsinki, which openly condemn all forms of racism,” she continued. “The city has not agreed to make a public statement against discrimination and racism.”

Marova said that she had asked victims of racist harassment to contact the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman.

Continue reading “Being a Russian speaker in a Finnish border city when war rages over yonder”

Trump, Putin and the Perussuomalaiset

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Former President Donald Trump is a threat to USAmerican democracy, and Russian President Vladimir Putin a threat to world peace. While these leaders spread their toxicity and hatred on other people and nations for political gain, our Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party has nothing more than praise for them.

Well, that was before Trump and Putin became major embarrassments.

A word of advice: Don’t trust the PS with a 10-mile pole in Finland. They are a threat to our democracy. They are the ones who pose proudly with autocrats like Viktor Orbán of Hungary and pro-Putinists like Matteo Salvini.

It would be unfair, to blame only the PS for all the Islamophobia and hatred in Finland. The National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) is trying to use and flirt with the PS in the hope that they will gain more voters.

It is a dumb and perilous choice. In Sweden, their sister party, the Moderates, opened the door to the far-right Sweden Democrats, leaving them in second place in last month’s election after the far-right party.

A poll published in 2016 showed that only the Perussuomalaiset tested Trump and Putin the most. “Kyllä” means yes, ei no, and Eos, no opinion. Source: Iltalehti

Riikka Purra’s and Jussi Halla-aho’s party will first take away the civil rights of migrants and minorities and destroy our welfare state in the process.

From left to right: President Trump and Putin in a 2016 poster in Montenegro. Photo by Stevo Vasilijevic/Reuters. Upper center: PS MPs, Vilhelm Junnila and Veikko Vallin, ging the thumbs up with their MAGA caps. Source: Facebook and Migrant Tales. Lower center: Tweets Halla-aho in November: “Trump is the best thing that happened in a long time to the United States and the west. Tweets MP Mika Niikko: “Trump’s campaign is similar to what the PS does. Trump has spiritual superiority. And then Russian premier Vladimir Putin: “Trump is a very qualified leader. His vitality enables him to do away with viruses.” Source: Mannerheim-projekti. Right: MEP Laura Huhtasaari and Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán. Source Twitter