Åland|According to Hufvudstadsbladet, the film crew made a television insert about the demilitarization of Åland and Stubb’s visit.
Russian state media filmed a report in Åland at the same time as the president of the republic Alexander Stubb was visiting the area last week.
The film crew followed Stubb and filmed the departure of his representative boat from Mariehamn, Hufvudstadsbladet reported on Monday.
According to the magazine, the film crew made a television insert about the demilitarization of Åland and Stubb’s visit.
It was about influencing information directed at the Russians, both the Protection Police (Supo) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented to HBL.
According to Supo’s assessment, the purpose is to influence people’s perceptions of Finland and, for example, to smear Ukrainian refugees, who are also mentioned in the TV story, writes HBL.
Group filmed a story for the Rossija 1 television channel, which is on the EU’s banned list. The sanctions aim to prevent the spread of propaganda, but they do not prevent interviews or filming in Finland, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs tells HBL.
The EU has not banned all Russian journalists from traveling, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs points out to the newspaper. You cannot get directly to the EU area from Russia, but you can get here by other means with a visa or permit.
Foreign policy the institute’s leading researcher Charly Salonius-Pasternak commented on the issue online on Tuesday.
“In this situation, in accordance with TP’s need for protection, it would have been appropriate to stop the hellish propagandists’ boat, check it for several days at Customs. Didn’t the authorities find the courage?” the researcher wrote in his X post.
Director General of Customs By Sami Rakshit According to the information available in the public domain, there would have been no basis for the actions taken by Salonius-Pasternak.
“In Finland, as a rule of law, things are not a matter of daring, but everything must be based on the law,” says Rakshit.
“In general, checking something for as long as possible to prevent something is not part of Finnish culture.”
Customs is expected to take such actions, perhaps because it is central to the monitoring of sanctions against Russia, Rakshit reflects. In addition, customs inspections are also carried out on traffic from mainland Finland or abroad to Åland if, for example, there are suspicions of tax evasion, says Rakshit.
“With this information, nothing justifies that Customs should have intervened in the matter, let alone that it should have done so.”
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