🇫🇮 Finland Mentioned

Todellisuudessa tämä on Viipuri, pieni kaupunki Pietarin luoteispuolella, jonka ruotsalainen ja suomalainen perintö on jo pitkään houkutellut kävijöitä hakemaan makua elämästä rajan toisella puolella. Mutta muistutukset Ukrainan sodasta eivät ole koskaan kaukana, ja Venäjän ja Nato-maa Suomen väliset jännitteet — Suomen rajan ollessa vain 30 kilometrin päässä — varjostavat elämää tässä muuten viehättävässä kaupungissa. Maaliskuussa Ukraina hyökkäsi Viipuriin ensimmäistä kertaa drooneilla. Hyökkäyksessä kerrottiin vaurioituneen historiallisen, Suomen ajalta peräisin olevan rakennuksen katto sekä liittovaltion turvallisuuspalvelun (FSB) rannikkovartiostolle rakennettava partiojäänmurtaja. Ruotsalaiset ristiretkeläiset perustivat Viipurin vuonna 1293 linnoitukseksi Suomenlahden rannalle, ja Pietari Suuren joukot valtasivat sen vuonna 1710 suuressa Pohjan sodassa. Vuonna 1812 siitä tuli osa Suomen suuriruhtinaskuntaa, Venäjän keisarikunnan autonomista aluetta. Kun Suomi julistautui itsenäiseksi vuonna 1917, Viipuri, suomeksi Viipuri, jäi sen rajojen sisälle ja siitä tuli maan toiseksi suurin kaupunki Helsingin jälkeen. Suomi luovutti Viipurin Neuvostoliitolle vuonna 1940 talvisodan jälkeen; sota oli alkanut Neuvostoliiton hyökkäyksellä edellisenä vuonna. Suomalaisjoukot valtasivat kaupungin takaisin vuonna 1941, kun Suomi taisteli yhdessä natsi-Saksan kanssa Neuvostoliittoa vastaan, mutta Neuvostoliiton joukot valtasivat kaupungin uudelleen vuonna 1944. Viipurin suomalaisväestö evakuoitiin ja joutui jättämään kotinsa lopullisesti.

Finnish police have launched a criminal investigation into possible breaches of the country’s environmental laws at the site of a planned Google datacentre in rural northern Finland. Authorities allege that Tuike Finland, a Google subsidiary, cleared and drained 330 hectares of forest at the planned site in Muhos before environmental impact assessments required by Finnish law had been completed.

But a 90-minute phone call this week to Vladimir Putin by the leaders of Finland and Norway drew an unusual rebuke from their Danish and Swedish neighbours. On Tuesday, Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, and Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, spoke with Putin, in a rare high-level conversation between the Russian leader and Ukraine’s European allies. Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said she was very sceptical about the independent initiative by Norway and Finland and questioned what they thought they could achieve. “Instead of looking like a firmly united, homogeneous group, we see a rift,” said Arkady Moshes, director of the Russia programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

Putin call pits Finland and Norway against Denmark and Sweden.

In Finland, under-35s hold 0.8 percent of household wealth, the lowest share of any country surveyed, while over-55s hold more than 71 percent.

Suspected Russian drones have been downed over Poland, Finland and the Baltic states.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre called false a Financial Times report that Vladimir Putin had recounted Slavic history in a conversation with him and Finnish President Alexander Stubb.

In comments earlier on Wednesday, Ushakov said the possible participation of European countries in the negotiations was not discussed during Putin's phone conversation on Tuesday with Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

Leaving worker management and performance monitoring to algorithms means “these processes become almost invisible,” Li Andersson, head of the delegation, told EUobserver.

Interfax news agency quoted Yuri Ushakov, who said the possible participation of European countries was not discussed during a 90-minute phone call on Tuesday among Russian President Vladimir Putin, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store. But Stubb offered a different account, telling a meeting of the Nordic Council in Helsinki that European countries would be involved in November’s Abu Dhabi talks.

“The fundamental rights framework in Frontex is among the strongest in any EU agency, and that will stay also with this review,” Henna Virkkunen, a commission vice-president, told reporters.

France, Spain, Finland, Denmark, Luxembourg and Portugal back the European Commission’s proposal for a one-year delay.

Finland’s Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen visited New Zealand on Oct. 21 to discuss security issues with officials there. His travel agenda also included Australia and Japan, signaling the Northern European country’s interest in the region despite the geographical distance. In a statement released by the Finnish government ahead of the trip, Häkkänen said: “We are reinforcing our relations with partners in the Indo-Pacific region. In addition, we see plenty of opportunities to deepen defense materiel cooperation.” Asked what NATO assets Finland is prepared to host, he replied: “When we joined NATO we were prepared, nationally, to defend ourselves. We have established NATO’s northern Europe’s land headquarters in the Arctic area, on Finnish soil. So we are leading the land defense.” Häkkänen was also asked about Finland’s defense priorities. He replied: “The first one is that Finland, by itself, has to be always, always, ready to defend our own country.” He said Finland has civil shelters for almost 5.5 million people—much of its total population—and added: “The Finnish way to do things is cost-effective, high-quality and win-win.”

Some officials in Europe have criticized Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb for their decision to reach out to the Russian leader. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre on Wednesday defended his and Finnish President Alexander Stubb's phone call the day before with Russia's Vladimir Putin, saying it was meant to ensure the Kremlin heard the views of European leaders about ending the war against Ukraine. Both Finland and Norway said their leaders were speaking as representatives of their respective countries and did not speak on behalf of Europe as a whole.

The leaders of Norway and Finland have held a rare call with Russian President Vladimir Putin to push for an end to the war in Ukraine, ahead of a planned round of United States-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi next month. Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre spoke with Putin for 90 minutes.

Norway's prime minister defended on Wednesday a three-way call with Vladimir Putin and Finland's president, saying it was intended to ensure the Russian leader heard European as well as US views. Tuesday's call between Russia's Putin, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian premier Jonas Gahr Stoere broke a longstanding practice among Western European leaders of shunning direct contact with the Kremlin, and was criticised by allies including Denmark's Mette Frederiksen.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks to the media while he waits for the arrival of Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo before their meeting, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, October 22, 2026.

Gina Tran wants a new association in Finland to bring generations of Vietnamese people together and give Finnish residents opportunities to experience Vietnamese culture through the traditional áo dài dress. Tran spoke on behalf of the founders when the Vietnamese Ao Dai Association in Finland launched in Helsinki on 24 October, with support from the Vietnamese Embassy. ScandAsia previously reported on Finland-based Nguyen Thuong Thuy winning a European áo dài title in June.

Finland's and Norway's leaders have phoned Vladimir Putin as Europe seeks a seat at the table. Sasha Vakulina reports on the rare call Finland's Alexander Stubb and Norway's Jonas Gahr Støre held with Vladimir Putin and whether it brings peace talks any closer.

Russian President Vladimir Putin devoted most of a phone conversation with the leaders of Finland and Norway on October 27 to telling them about the “history of the Slavs in the Middle Ages.” Sources familiar with the conversation told the Financial Times.