Category: Media

Seura published an article about Russian environment- “Venäjän metsäpaloissa pääsee ilmaan mustaa hiiltä, joka nopeuttaa ilmastonmuutosta – ”Palokaudesta tulee hyvin vaarallinen”” (In Russian forest fires black carbon is released into the air, which speeds up climate change – “Fire season becomes very dangerous”).

The fire season starts already in February and lasts for months. In addition to the forest, peat bogs dry.

In the fire, carbon dioxide and black carbon are released into the air, which is the third largest source of climate change after carbon dioxide and methane. Black carbon is thought to cause up to a quarter of global warming in the Arctic.

Climate change has accelerated further still due to black carbon. In Russia, the Siberian permafrost melts, and dozens of large craters have been created in the tundra, which are likely to cause methane explosions underground.

The article contains a commentary on the issue by Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, read it here.

“The Helsinki meeting was a clear victory for the Russian President Vladimir Putin also in the field of energy policy” – Professor Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen estimates, tells the new Yle article “Judoka-Putin heitti Trumpin tatamiin myös energiapolitiikassa – Tutkija: Ehdotus “kaasukartellista” taitava syöttö Venäjän päämieheltä” (Judoist Putin threw Trump on tatami also in energy politics – Researcher: “Gas cartel” formation proposal  was a skillful feed from the leader).

When Trump says that we are (in regards to gas) only competitors, and it is not about energy security, then Russia proposes to conjoin and create a monopoly structure that could jointly manage the market. A clever bet from Russia, of course.

Read the full article here.

Talouselämä newspaper published an interview with Professor Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen titled “Näin Putin tekee kaasulla täsmäiskuja hajanaiseen Eurooppaan – Professori: Venäjää ei pysty suitsimaan energian avulla” (This is how Putin makes precision strikes in fragmented Europe – Professor: Russia can not be reined with energy). Read the full article on the Magazine’s website.

Het Financieele Dagblad, Dutch daily newspaper, published an interview with Professor Tynkkynen about the Helsinki Summit titled “Poetin is winnaar van Helsinki. Navo blijft buiten schot bij ontmoeting van Trump en Poetin” (Putin is the winner in Helsinki. NATO remains unaffected by Trump and Putin meeting).

The article (in Dutch) can be accessed here.

Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen was interviewed by Yle about the Baltic Conector gas pipeline project, the construction of which starts on Friday in Finnish Inkoo.

The article is titled “Miksi Suomen ja Viron välille upotetaan kaasuputki, jos se ei kannata kaupallisesti? 10 kysymystä Suomenlahden jättihankkeesta” (Why there is a gas pipeline being laid between Finland and Estonia, if it is not commercially profitable? 10 questions about the megaproject in the Gulf of Finland)  and provides a thorough description of the project and its meaning.

Read the full article here.

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.

 

Professor Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen appeared on a Russian language Estonian Radio 4 programme “Details” (Подробности), where he commented Nord Stream 2 issue from the Finnish perspective. In the programme titled “‘Nord Stream 2’ still causes heated debates” (“Северный поток-2” до сих пор вызывает жаркие споры) professor Tynkkynen said, that there still are political actors in Finland that support the pipeline project, but also there are those who are against.

Those that are supporting the project are emphasizing the economic development, but those that are against the project are touching upon the security issues. Finland has always tried not to politicize the questions of large energy flows. But we all of course understand very well, that if the ‘Nord Stream 2’ is built, that would mean the increase of dependence on Russia in gas supply area.