Russia “Finnish news sounds really scary,” says 15-year-old Ksenia Zeitlin from Lappeenranta – Russia’s aggressive foreign policy hurts the Finnish-Russian community

Eastern Finland the subject of the school’s eighth-grade history lesson is war in Europe, but in the midst of it all, the girls in the back row are starting to air. Finland Iivo Niskanen has won Olympic gold, the Russian Alexander Bolshunov stayed far behind.

The teacher quickly returns the conversation to World War II.

“Why wasn’t Germany properly prepared for the Normandy landings?”

Many hands rise.

“For months, incorrect information about its time and place had been entered into Germany,” the student replies.

“Yes, that is, the intelligence was incorrect.”

War, preparation for the attack and intelligence in Europe have returned from history books to news headlines. The United States has told the world, based on its intelligence, that Russia plans to attack Ukraine in the next few days.

In any case, European history, world politics and Russia mix with everyday life in the lives of students in a Finnish-Russian school in Eastern Finland. It is only half an hour’s drive from the Lappeenranta campus to the Russian border. Some students have roots in Russia or elsewhere in the former Soviet Union.

Nikoli Blazyten , 17, father is Lithuanian and mother is Estonian. At home, parents follow the news in both Russian and Finnish and talk about it with each other.

“But I don’t mind listening to them,” Blazyte says.

Admittedly, the father manages to grind out how great it is that Lithuania is now a member of NATO.

“All the time!”

Finland 84,000 Russian-speakers are the country’s largest group of foreign speakers, but they show little publicity, especially in terms of how much Russia is spoken about in Finland.

This is partly because the Finns are not a united group. It’s hard to say anything universal about them. This is what a professor studying Russia, migration and Finnish Russians says Olga Davydova-Minguet From the University of Eastern Finland.

Another reason is that Russia’s foreign policy is sorely divisive among Russian-speakers in Finland. The strong dichotomy began with the conquest of Crimea in 2014 and follows the dividing line of the conflict.

“It was talked about everywhere, it was disputed by families and friends. Many were broken. ”

The recent escalation of the situation has not changed this fundamental conflict with which the Finns have learned to live over the years. Many have chosen the same strategy as those Americans whose human relations are being broken by disagreement. Donald Trumpista: better be quiet and talk about other things.

“It’s exactly what you think. No one listens, everyone just yells the same. It’s just as empty, ”says a doctor with a Russian background in Lappeenranta, who has learned to get up from the coffee table at work if the discussion of Russian colleagues moves to Ukraine.

For the same reason, he does not want to speak in his own name in this matter. Many others refuse the interview altogether.

“There are more and more topics that are not being talked about all the time as the conflict widens,” Davydova-Minguet says.

The doctor from Lappeenranta still has a strong opinion about Russia’s aggression. So strong that he renounced Russian citizenship after the conquest of Crimea.

“Then came the feeling that this was not going to be anything.”

Eastern Finland attending high school Anfisa Boyko, 18, has subscribed to Ilta-Sanomat’s news alerts on her phone. Recently, it has been felt that every second of them concerns Russia.

“The headlines are such that there will probably be a war and the situation is terrible and get ready.”

But when Boyko talks to his grandmother living in St. Petersburg, Ukraine or the threat of war does not come up. Boyko feels it doesn’t touch ordinary people. Grandma would have talked about the situation if she had been worried.

The contradiction between Russia, which appears in the news, and Russia, which is mediated in the speeches of loved ones living behind the border, is familiar to many Finns.

Ksenia Zeitlinin, 15, the news is not followed at home, but at school it is viewed during a social studies class. Russia news is getting weird.

“Finnish news sounds really scary. That anything can happen soon, ”says Zeitlin.

But when he talks to relatives and family friends living in Russia, it doesn’t seem like he’s getting ready for war there.

Social media is also mixed up in the daily lives of young people in particular. Daughter of a Russian mother and a Spanish father, 15 years old Claudia Madrid sees videos on everyday life of Ukrainians and memes about the threat of war on Tiktok and Instagram. Memes are often funny, but Madrid doesn’t know if they should laugh.

“Is this normal? In Meme, this big thing doesn’t seem so serious, but does it? ”

There has been little talk of all this in school and never among students.

Lappeenranta Five per cent of the population is Russian-speaking, and there are pupils with a Russian background in schools other than the bilingual school in Eastern Finland.

Teach history and social studies at Kimpinen High School Taina Sipiläinen-Veikkanen talks about Russia one way or another in class every day. At times, he wonders whether he is only raising concerns about Russia, but on the other hand, it is clear that the values ​​of education include the promotion of human rights, freedom of speech and democracy. They are not compromised.

As there are children of Russian parents in the classes, Sipiläinen-Veikkanen pays special attention to not drawing a sign of equality between the Russians and the Russian administration.

“I try to be careful that I speak Putin administration. “

Otherwise, the background of the students will not come up in the lessons and should not come up.

“I don’t know much about other students’ home backgrounds.”

“

“Russia, Russia, Russia. It is present in our lives. ”

Multi the Finn-Russian does not follow the news at all, but not the Oulu Master of Business Administration Ekaterina Myller. He follows the Finnish, Russian and European media.

“I guess it’s some default setting that if there’s an issue that deals with Russia, I have to have an opinion on it,” Myller says.

Myller, now 40 years old, moved to Finland as a child almost 30 years ago and has grown to have his own position ready, especially in crisis or conflict situations.

“It’s built-in, although probably no one really expects it.”

Finnish Russians are always affected by some kind of concern and mistrust about how the security policy situation affects them as Russians in Finland, says Professor Davydova-Minguet. After the conquest of Crimea, dual citizens began to be talked about more as a security threat.

“The point is that even if we have Finnish citizenship, we are still considered suspicious and in some way second-class citizens,” says Davydova-Minguet.

In everyday life, a Finn can also be connected to Russia at any time, completely unexpectedly.

“Russia, Russia, Russia. It is present in our lives, no matter how we strive to get rid of it. ”

Ekaterina at Myller there are two sons for whom he has not applied for Russian citizenship. The decision was influenced by a subconscious fear of Russia’s unpredictability. What if the boys got into the army in Russia?

“Power and arbitrariness are a pretty dangerous combination.”

Although Finland’s military service is also thoughtful. It is the boys’ own decision in the future.

“If a war broke out in Finland, it would be against Russia. Is that where we have to go to kill the little cousins? ”

That’s absurd in all this, he thinks. People have become accustomed to moving across borders since the end of the Cold War, and Myller knows Ukrainians, Finns and Russians alike.

“Ordinary people don’t want a war anywhere.”