At the same time, the Finnish association has received funding from both a foundation linked to Russian intelligence services and the Finnish government.
The Pravfond foundation is financed by the Russian state and has had several former intelligence officers in its administration.
The foundation has paid, for example, the Russian security service An assassin who worked for the FSB legal fees in Germany.
The Pravfond foundation and its director were placed on the EU sanctions list in 2023. Documents leaked to Danish Broadcasting show that the foundation has nevertheless continued to operate, even “more professionally and aggressively than before” using “various detours”.
Pravfond funds websites that publish Russian propaganda, with editorial offices in Brussels.
In Finland, the foundation has been represented by the Mosaiikki association from Jyväskylä, which has received over two and a half million euros in public support from Finland between 2004 and 2024.
Legal assistance also for arms dealers
The official purpose of the foundation is to assist Russian citizens abroad, especially in legal matters. The name of the foundation is “rights foundation” in Finnish.
The leaked documents reveal that the list of those to be assisted has included, in addition to an FSB man convicted of assassination in Germany, for example one of the world’s most famous arms dealers, Viktor Bout.
The foundation has also paid Greek lawyers who defended 12 Russian sailors suspected of smuggling people from Africa to Europe. According to leaked documents from Pravfond, eight sailors were released in 2022-2023 as a result of the foundation’s help.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, the foundation had to rethink its activities.
Its founder and director Aleksandr Ivanovich Udaltsov was added to the EU sanctions list in June 2023.
The operation financed by the foundation in Europe continues regardless.
Foreign Minister Lavrov’s memo, supported by President Putin, is extremely important, according to which it is necessary to increase the foundation’s funding.
From the Pravfond document on 5 March 2024
Propaganda for all Europeans
The Pravfond foundation has two extensive propaganda publications, which also have websites in Finnish.
After the outbreak of the war, the foundation established the Euromore network, which is officially headquartered in Brussels. According to its own words, the online publication wants to show a “different Europe” and prevent the spread of Russophobia.
Another project is Golos, which spreads “real news from Ukraine”. Delivery was moved from Kiev to Brussels when the war broke out. According to the documents, tens of millions of people follow Golos’ online stories, videos and social media channels.
Legal advice was also given in Finland
In total, the Pravfond foundation has given almost 200,000 euros to organizations operating in Finland.
One of the entities is the Russian-language online publication Novosti Helsinki, which has received tens of thousands of euros from Pravfond for legal advice for Russian citizens.
However, Pravfond’s legal department in Finland has mainly operated in Jyväskylä. This is clear, for example, from the document dated 27 April 2023. Operations in Finland have therefore been continued even during the war of aggression against Russia.
It has been run by the director of the Mosaic Association in Jyväskylä, a Russian woman who has lived in Finland for a long time.
He says that with the help of Pravfond’s support, only guides explaining Finnish laws have been made for the Russian-speaking population. He denies knowing anything about Pravfond’s connections to people who worked in the intelligence services.
– I have never heard of grant recipients doing research and gathering information about the foundation’s employees. We were just grant recipients, he writes in his answer.
According to the leaked documents, over 60,000 euros of support has been paid to Mosaic from Russia in the period 2015–2020.
However, the association has received significantly more money from Finnish parties.
Money from Finland and Russia at the same time
The Mosaic Association has received over two and a half million euros in public subsidies, i.e. Finnish taxpayers’ money.
According to its website, the main purpose of the association’s activities is “to help Finnish society change for the better by conveying information in both Finnish and Russian.” For a long time, the association published the Mosaiikki magazine in several localities, whose articles primarily dealt with immigrant issues and cultural events.
The association also received support in Finland after Russia took over Crimea, although the connection to Russian funding was not hidden in any way. Funding has been provided by, among others, the former ATM Association, the city of Jyväskylä, and STEA, which distributes grants to social and health organizations. Their support has stopped, but support has been received from the Ministry of Education this year.
Nowadays, the association receives support from the Ministry of Education to help Ukrainian children learn Finnish and integrate through an online educational game.
The director of the association tells MOT that the contract with Pravfond, which was signed before the sanctions, ended at the end of last year and no money has been received from Russia since the sanctions were imposed.
A possible means of hybrid influence
Outwardly, Pravfond presents itself as an organization that supports Russian citizens abroad.
However, according to several Western intelligence sources, Pravfond is under the control of Russian intelligence services.
So what is the aim of the foundation’s activities?
Historian specializing in intelligence matters Mikko Porvali considers the operating model as one potential means of hybrid influence.
– Through the offered legal aid, the Russian state administration gathers information about the kind of discrimination Russians abroad allegedly experience in their countries of residence. And then this information can be used in that propaganda.
However, the war has changed the situation, because even after the outbreak of the war, Pravfond has offered this help to its citizens, also in Finland.
– The activity is shown in a very different light after this is financed by a neighboring country – and that neighboring country is waging a war of aggression against another country at the same time – regardless of any restrictions or legal aspects, Porvali sums up.
Pravfond seems to be able to still operate in Europe despite the sanctions.
Despite EU sanctions on the foundation, none of its eight centers [Suomi mukaan lukien] has not ceased operations.
From the Pravfond document on 5 March 2024
In turn, Russia’s traditional means of personal intelligence have weakened when Western countries have expelled diplomats. However, the need for information about Western countries has not decreased with the war.
According to an intelligence source interviewed by the Danish broadcaster DR, the Russian intelligence services do indeed use representatives of the Pravfond foundation for intelligence purposes.
The foundation is also familiar to the Finnish protection police. It is Russia’s influencing activities, but the foundation’s influence is minor and does not pose a threat to Finns, Supo tells MOT. In general, the conditions for Russian influencing activities in Finland have weakened comprehensively in recent years, Supo says.
Pravfond has not responded to an interview request from an international group of journalists.