Turtiainen claims that he “represents Finland” in his videos. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there is no official representation. EastCham is not aware of any Finnish companies at the event.
Power belongs to the people, chairman and ex-MP Ano Turtiainen has left for the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg on the train of the Russian government.
– In a way, a desperate attempt to get even someone who looks like a Western actor there, assesses the matter, a lecturer familiar with security issues Panu Moilanen from the University of Jyväskylä.
According to Moilanen, it is also very possible that by raising Turtiai, Russia is hiding its other, more subtle means of influence in Finland.
Russia influences Finland through many different channels, and since according to Moilanen, it has not been a Finnish way of operating, we may miss essential things about Russia’s influence attempts.
Turtiainen’s smokescreen-like participation in the West can be seen as a “sorry rumor” in Moilanen’s words, but in Russia’s domestic politics, perhaps they want to try to show that the economic forum is still a big international arena.
The Economic Forum used to be a significant economic event, where Finland also participated annually at company and ministerial level. Now, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there is no official representation of Finland, and EastCham, the former Finnish-Russian Chamber of Commerce, is not aware of any Finnish companies that would participate in the event.
Western media is not even welcome to the event.
According to Moilanen, the forum has experienced the same thing as everything else in Russia after the country’s attack on Ukraine: international credibility, cooperation and room for maneuver have disappeared.
– Now Russia has to play with the cards it has, Moilanen says.
Turtiainen’s award
Turtiainen has claimed that he “represents Finland” in St. Petersburg with his YouTube videos, which is therefore not true.
Party secretary in videos Marko Hiltunen and Turtiainen say that Russia paid for their tickets, which cost more than 25,000 euros.
Turtiainen, who was voted out of parliament in the last election, has repeatedly expressed views that Russia should “secure” the new elections in Finland. In the videos, Turtiainen also dreams of Russia occupying a part of Finland, which would enable him and VKK to return to parliament.
Moilanen sees the invitation to the forum as a kind of reward from Russia to Turtiainen for having pushed the agenda of the Russian state in Finland.
– Smoothing the fur, says Moilanen.
reached out to Turtiai, who lives in Juva, for an interview, but he could not be reached. In his videos, Turtiainen has said that he does not want to give interviews to .
You can discuss the topic on 15.6. until 23:00.