We dual citizens of Finland and Russia have built our lives here. We have married Finns, have given birth to children who are Finnish citizens.
Helsingin sanomat newspaper news (19.1.) Finland's intentions to find out whether dual citizens of Finland and Russia could be stripped of their second citizenship. Everyone familiar with the matter knows that this practically means giving up Finnish citizenship, because Russia has made it very difficult to give up citizenship.
As a dual citizen, someone who has lived in Finland for more than 30 years and is fully integrated into Finnish society, I can't help but watch this conversation with my mouth open and shocked. Do we understand in this country that we who moved to Finland as children have not caused the current geopolitical situation?
We dual citizens have passed the language and competence tests prescribed by the Finnish government to become Finnish citizens. We have built our lives here. We have married Finns, given birth to children who are Finnish citizens, perhaps bought owner-occupied apartments, paid taxes and accumulated pensions.
If Finland now decides to take Finnish citizenship away from people like us, it would be a cruel, narrow-minded action against all human rights and humanity.
What did the Finnish government think of doing, for example, to the apartments of our dual citizens? Can a Russian who has lost Finnish citizenship own his home anymore or will the state take all of our apartments? And how can such a person travel in the EU with his children, when the children have an EU passport and the person himself has a Russian one? Can such a person stay and live in Finland with his family or will the family be deported to Russia? Does the state confiscate property and smuggle people across the border to live in a country where most of them haven't even visited in decades? This kind of activity sounds a lot like the politics of my country of origin.
Until now, Finnish citizenship could only be lost if you committed a crime. What kind of crime have I committed when my parents brought me to Finland as a child and I have since paid my taxes and loans to Finland, given birth to children and followed the country's laws and customs?
Shocked dual citizen
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