Category: 2018

A new article was published in Ilta-Sanomat today by Päivi Lakka. She tried to contact 200 Finnish MPs and ask them a few questions about Russia. However, many preferred not to answer. In her piece “Kommentti: Kun kansanedustajilta kysyy Venäjästä, miksi vastaus on hiljaisuus?” (Comment: When MPs are asked about Russia, why silence is the answer?) Päivi Lakka tries to understand the reasons for this silence and quotes the words of Professor Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, who said that for Finns Russia is still a taboo and they avoid to speak of it too directly. Tynkkynen believes that many politicians deliberately avoid taking part in a public debate on Russia, as it is very easy to get tangled up in it.

Read the full comment here. Russian translation of the article is available on InoSMI.

Russian digital media Fontanka.ru published yesterday an article “Delyagin is afraid to be left without heat and light because of the Finns” (Делягин боится остаться без тепла и света из-за финнов), where an interview with Professor Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen was given. Commenting on the reasons behind publishing Delyagin’s article in “Rossiyskaya Gazeta”, Professor Tynkkynen believes that there were several of them:

First, of course it is the deal between Fortum and Uniper, because of which the Finnish energy company has noticeably increased its influence on the Russian market. And secondly, it is the political situation <…>. Nowadays there is a confrontation due to Syrian issue,  British Skripals’ case, so one should not exclude that this is a Finnish message – we can interfere with your Russian business.

For Russia, Tynkkynen states, energy is connected to foreign policy, For example, in “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” among other things Finland’s position on NATO is mentioned, which remains open. According to Tynkkynen, Mikhail Delyagin represents a nationalistic camp, that has a negative attitude towards foreign companies in Russia. Perhaps, he thinks, that it is an attempt of indirect influence on Finnish side. Similar tactics was used by Russia before, for example with issues concerning children, when different actors criticised Finland, but top officials did not take part in it. However, Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen is certain that “the attack on Fortum makes no sense”.

For Russia it is not very wise to threaten Fortum, that made the project of nuclear power plant “Hanhikivi 1” construction possible – the project that is carried out in Finland by Rosatom.

Read the full article here.

 

Article “Miksi Fortum asetettiin Venäjän virallisessa lehdessä kielteiseen valoon? Tutkija: Voidaan nähdä näpäytyksenä Suomelle, kovistelulla on valtion ylimmän johdon hyväksyntä” (Why Fortum was presented in a negative light in the Russian official newspaper? Researcher: It can be seen as a telling Finland to get back in line, and this arm-twisting was approved by the  state’s top management) was published yesterday in Helsingin Sanomat. Read the full article here. Kaleva.fi refered to the HS’s article in its piece titled “Fortum ja Kremlin aito tahto” (Fortum and Kremlin’s true willl), published on 30th of April.

Another article “Fortumin mukaan Venäjällä on menossa lokakampanja – ‘taustalla kaupalliset syyt'” (According to Fortum, there is a smear campaign in Russia – ‘behind are commercial reasons’) was published in Savon Sanomat on 17th of April. Read there an interview with Professor Tynkkynen. This article was also published in Ilkka, Forssan Lehti, Keskisuomalainen and Karjalainen.

A big interview with Professor Tynkkynen “Asiantuntija: Nato mainittu – Venäjän Fortum-lokakampanjassa myös ulkopoliittinen viesti” ( Expert: NATO is mentioned – Russian Fortum – smear campaign includes also a foreign policy message) was published on 17th of April in Iltalehti.