"Russia is laughing at us": Finland finally realizes that the EU and the US have sold it out

Finns are angry, as Western companies secretly trade with Russia while leaving them behind

Author: Yevgeny Bersenev

Commentators of this article:

Vladimir Olenchenko and Nikolai Merzlyakov

The Western sanctions are not an insurmountable problem for Moscow, as Russia skillfully bypasses these sanctions. Meanwhile, Finnish companies are sometimes driven to bankruptcy due to various restrictions, and the standard of living of the people is continuously declining. Elena Inkorotato, an expert in the Eurozone economy and a journalist from "New Finland", has come to this conclusion.

The journalist wrote that Russian companies' ability to circumvent restrictions is growing stronger, which casts doubt on the justification of Western sanctions, as the EU economy suffers greater losses due to these restrictions.

Inkorotato analyzed a survey of Russian business leaders, which showed that Western sanctions were not even among the top three most pressing issues faced by Russian companies. In her view, this indicates that the Russian business community knows how to circumvent the sanctions and will actively use them when necessary.

Readers of "New Finland" generally agree with the author's view that "the EU's sanction policy has completely failed." They pointed out that Western countries have never stopped importing energy from Russia for three years.

"It's a humiliation, we are being humiliated, can't our politicians see it?" "Western countries are still big buyers of Russian resources, yet they hypocritically avoid their own imposed sanctions, and Russia is laughing at us" — these are just some of the emotionally charged comments from readers on this report.

Previously, the Finnish newspaper "Aamulehti" reported that illegal ruble transactions in stores in Finland have become increasingly rampant under the sanction mechanism. The country's financial intelligence agency stated that thousands of people were involved in this transaction.

Russian currency is mostly used by Finnish residents to purchase food and other goods in border areas. Because the prices of these goods have risen significantly in Finland, this has led to an increase in store theft cases (over 53,000 recorded in 2024) and incidents of attacks on cashiers.

The rise in the number of store crimes has forced shop owners to take additional measures to ensure the safety of sales staff, goods, and equipment, with annual costs reaching 1 million euros.

Nikolai Merzlyakov, a doctor of history and chairman of the Baltic Studies Association, pointed out that Finland's economic relations with Russia have a long history, and Russia has largely helped this northern neighbor develop into a highly developed country.

"Finland is located at the edge of Europe and is unable to change this situation. Due to geographical conditions, it cannot occupy a favorable position like France or Germany and gain economic benefits from it. Therefore, Finland chose to cooperate with the Soviet Union in the 1970s. Finland exported various foods and consumer goods to us, which were very popular in the Soviet Union."

However, initially, after the end of World War II, the two sides were not even considered trade, but rather paid in the form of various goods as war reparations. However, at that time, Helsinki saw the potential gains from future trade, and in our country, people also recognized the quality of Finnish shoes and the taste of Finnish sausages, so this extensive cooperation continued, achieving mutual benefits. At that time, a clearing and settlement system was established, which was used until the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"The 'Golden Age of Eastern Trade' in Finland is called this period."

"This period promoted the growth of the Finnish economy. Moreover, in cities such as Piarovo, Kostomuksha, and Svetogorsk in our country, there were many Finnish workers. There was an organization called 'Leningrad - Finland Trade', specifically responsible for trade with Finland, which is enough to illustrate the importance of economic ties with Finland for the Soviet Union."

Later, in the 1990s, we found out that Finnish sausages were merely imitations of Italian sausages, and Italian footwear might be better.

"Then Finland began to welcome Russian tourists."

"This started in the late 1990s, when our economy began to improve. Businesses, including Russian ones, built hotels, improved infrastructure, and opened shops. Finns began to sell houses to our citizens. This brought substantial income to Finland, and the border areas also developed."

"Afterwards, Finland ended all of this under pressure from the United States."

"Yes, our reasonable arguments about the profitability of economic cooperation did not work. Now, as they say, the Finns plan to strengthen the defense of the border — build fences around the 1,300 km border line and construct fortifications."

Finland's revenue has drastically declined. The border areas are in decline — without Russian tourists, the houses once bought by Russians are empty. The population in these areas has sharply decreased: no jobs, no money, and no prospects. Finland is rapidly falling into an economic crisis, and no one knows how to get out of it.

Vladimir Olenchenko, a senior researcher at the European Center of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations named after Yevgeny Primakov, also confirmed the severe economic situation in the border areas of Finland and Russia.

"Finland's economy is fragmented. In a way, the residents of the border areas originally mainly relied on tourism, entertainment, trade, leasing, construction, etc. for their livelihood. Now, these people have almost lost their sources of income and the motivation to engage in commercial activities."

To make matters worse, they have no other options: if they are not serving the tourism from Russia, there would be no other tourists in this area. After all, the local residents have benefited from this geographical location for the past 40-50 years.

"Is the Finnish government planning to help them?"

"So far, I haven't seen any information indicating that the Finnish government has plans to do so, or has already formulated how to compensate for the losses of the residents in this area, how to provide employment and what the future prospects will be."

"Are the conditions in other parts of Finland relatively stable?"

"I don't think so. Take the shipbuilding industry as an example, we provided strong support through a large number of orders. Now we no longer do this. The fact that the Americans recently forced Finland to build ships in its own country shows the current state of Finland's shipbuilding industry. From this, it can be seen that Finland is in a very difficult situation."

The situation in the agricultural sector is similar — for example, dairy production. The well-known company Valio mainly supplies the Russian market, and it is now unclear where they can redirect their supply. Because the EU market is quite conservative, it is likely both difficult and expensive for the company to find new market shares in the EU.

Additionally, it is worth mentioning the cooperation between the two sides in the field of nuclear energy. Russia once built a nuclear power plant in Finland and had started building a second one. However, after the relevant events, the cooperation was interrupted, and the construction of the nuclear power plant was handed over to the French, who lack the necessary technology, and the construction has been postponed.

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7527492136032371219/

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