Summary:
Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö will have a private meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on 9 April. The meeting takes place in connection with the Arctic: Territory of Dialogue forum, where President Niinistö speaks at the main session. The forum is organised on 9-10 April. 

The goal of the forum is to promote collaboration and sustainable development in the arctic region. This year’s theme is the arctic region as a region of opportunities. Finland is the chair of the Arctic Council until May. Iceland succeeds Finland as the chair.

Media:  Iltalehti, Maaseudun Tulevaisuus, MTV Uutiset, YLE Uutiset
Date: 1.4.2019
Journalist: 
Main source: 

Summary:
Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö commented in Twitter on Finland’s political discussion ahead of the Parliamentary elections. The President retweeted a message, which stated that foreign and security policy has not been discussed ahead of the elections, even though the Parliament decides, for example, on Finland’s NATO membership. 

The President agreed with this tweet. He pointed out that the Finnish Parliament sets the guidelines for Finland’s foreign and security policy, and these guidelines are followed. Therefore, he hoped that political parties would discuss their foreign and security policy views in their election campaigns.

Media:  Demokraatti, MTV Uutiset, Savon Sanomat, Verkkouutiset.fi
Date: 30.3.2019
Journalist: 
Main source: Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö 

Summary:
Mirja Kivimäki’s comment in MTV discusses Finland’s chances of becoming a member of the UN Security Council and getting other top UN seats. The author notes that Finland has cut its funding for various UN Programmes during the last five years and says that the trend can be seen in a number of major programmes such as UN Women, UNDP, the Environment Programme and Unicef. 

According to the author, the cuts reflect on Finland’s position in the UN in two ways. As the programmes and funding shrink, the number of Finnish experts working in these will decrease and Finland will gradually simply not be offering suitable people for top positions. In addition, the author raises the question of how the drop in funding affects Finland’s stature and the willingness of organizations to invest specifically in Finns in key positions. The answer to this is so political that no one can provide a direct one.

Media:  MTV Uutiset
Date: 6.3.2019
Journalist: Mirja Kivimäki
Main source: 

Summary:
Media report that the previous training tasks for Finnish peacekeepers deployed in Afghanistan have changed to more dangerous security tasks. Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Matti Vanhanen and Chairman of the Defence Committee Ilkka Kanerva say that the withdrawal of Finnish peacekeepers has not been discussed, even though the United States is planning to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

« The main task of the division is to protect the senior military leaders and advisers moving in the country, » says Brigadier General Rami Saari of the Finnish Defence Forces. In practice, protection means, for example, arranging convoys and preventing threats in areas where advisors move. In 2015, the Afghanistan crisis management operation became a support operation where Finnish troops trained the country’s security authorities.

At the turn of February-March, 20 new Finnish peacekeepers started in Afghanistan’s peacekeeping troops. In total, 60 Finns now serve in the country. The majority of the new peacekeepers are reservists, while a few are permanent personnel of the Defence Forces. Parliament decided to increase the number of peacekeepers in Afghanistan last June.

Media:  Lapin Kansa  , Pohjalainen  
Date: 7.3.2019
Journalist: Petteri Lindholm
Main source:  

Summary:
An editorial in Ilta-Sanomat addressed the current foreign policy issues involving Russia and stated that Russia lives in its own reality, despite the economic sanctions. Russian Ambassador Pavel Kuznetsov spoke at the Paasikivi Society in Finland on December 11 and maintained that Russia had no involvement in the GPS jamming at the NATO exercise in Lapland.

Kuznetsov accused the European Union, NATO and the US together and separately. According to him, the West is guilty of scrapping international agreements, the escalation of the situation in Ukraine and NATO’s enlargement projects at the Russian border. Kuznetsov accused Ukraine of « provocation » at the Kerch Strait.

Finland itself was not mentioned in the speech, but a familiar message emerged between the lines: Russia does not view favourably Finland’s possible NATO membership. The Finland-Russia relations have endured i.a. Finland’s participation in the EU’s sanctions against Russia. Applying for NATO membership could be the threshold after which Russia would re-evaluate its stance towards Finland.

Finland has a good dialogue with Russia, but it is still difficult to agree with Kuznetsov’s view that relations between the countries could return to the pre-Crimean crisis level. The confrontation between Russia and the West seems to be cemented in its current state with no relief in sight; especially given that the US Congress is awaiting new economic sanctions against Russia. Decisions on this will be made after the turn of the year.

According to Ilkka, The EU countries have condemned Russia’s aggression in the Kerch Strait, but the issue of the tightening of sanctions would not be raised during the Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Brussels. The assessment of Ukraine’s situation was set to be a major topic and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin attended the meeting.

Media:  Ilkka  , Ilta-Sanomat
Date: 13.12.2018
Journalist: 
Main source: 

Summary:
According to Ilta-Sanomat, the Bold Quest military exercise has been puzzling the Finnish Parliament’s Defence Committee. Mika Kari, vice chairman of the Defensc Committee, would like to know more about the exercise, which is to be held next year in Finland, and will be attended by dozens of countries and the Nato, according to preliminary information. Mr Kari has been wondering about the fact that Finland is the host country, but the United States is the leader of the exercise

Mr Kari explained that he had asked experts at the Defence Committee meeting whether an exercise in Finland had previously been led by another country. The experts apparently did not know how to respond. Mr Kari said that the Defense Committee had been informed about the exercise, but not all of the details. He would like to hear more specific explanation as to why Finns do not lead a military exercise on Finnish soil.

Bold Quest is the most expensive single international exercise for the Defense Forces next year. It costs roughly 4.5 million euros, while a total of 10.8 million will be required for the whole year’s international training activity.

Media:  Ilta-Sanomat
Date: 21.11.2018
Journalist:
Main source:

Summary:
Yle has reported on the visit of the Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini to Washington. He discussed current global political issues with the US State Secretary Mike Pompeo. Many of the issues discussed were related to Russia.

Due to the crisis in Ukraine, sanctions have been imposed on Russia for almost five years behind, but they are still no changes in sight by the EU or the United States. Mr Soini noted that the fact that the Minsk agreement has not been implemented means that sanctions still remain in place.

The article noted that the United States and Russia had failed to reach an agreement on the extension of the INF treaty. President Donald Trump has said he wants to dismantle it because Russia has not followed it. Mr Soini told Pompeo that the treaty is important to Europe.

Mr Pompeo is expected to attend the ministerial meeting in Finland at the beginning of May. Finland will then hand over the chairmanship of the Arctic Council to Iceland. The formulation of a joint statement can be challenging because the climate policy of President Donald Trump’s administration has been almost the exact opposite to the European countries around the Arctic Ocean.

Mr Soini said he was an optimist. Climate issues, the use of black coal and heavy fuel oil in the Arctic are difficult questions. But the action in this case must be goal-and result-oriented, he said.

Minister Soini also visited the Congress, where he had several bilateral discussions with politicians. Democrats’ last week’s election victory will reflect on the United States. Mr Soini expects that « the dynamics will change », and that there could be a change in the US foreign policy too. He noted that compromises had to be made at this point.

Media:  YLE Uutiset
Date: 16.11.2018
Journalist: Mika Hentunen
Main source:

Summary:
According to an editorial in Ilkka, the details of the case of GPS jamming during NATO exercise in Finland have not been opened, but the Ministry for Foreign Afffairs said that Russia was involved. The latter denied involvement and demanded concrete proofs, which is unlikely to come, as both Norway and Finland would reveal to Russia the accuracy of their own technology.

According to the editorial, the matter has shifted to the diplomatic level, but details of the debate between the State Secretary and the Ambassador of Russia are not reaching the public. However, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has informed that air safety is of interest to both parties. The Ministry demands more information and responsible action from Russia, but it is unknown what has been Russia’s response to Finland’s request.

The editorial states that the case is not to be treated lightly, as its timing for the NATO exercises was carefully planned and it was a jab at Finland for its NATO connection. Finland’s Foreign Affairs Committee was expected to receive a statement from Foreign Minister Timo Soin (sin.) on Thursday about the direction in which the case has been going.

Minister Soini has said that a discussion about the GPS jamming case continues with Russia. The Russian Ambassador to Finland Pavel Kuznetsov was invited to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on Monday. Mr Soini did not comment on Monday about details of the talks between Mr Kuznetsov and Foreign Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Matti Anttonen.

It was, in his view, a debate, not a talk, but the fact that such a conversation has been arranged at all indicates that this is a serious matter. Mr Soini said in Brussels that the discussion went on in good spirits. He noted that Finland typically takes care of issues such as this one bilaterally.

« We have had a clear idea that the disruption has come from the Russian side. We have demanded answers and discussion has taken place. I believe this debate will continue in some form, » Mr Soini said.

Keskisuomalainen has noted that Prime Minister Juha Sipilä had stated that the suspected GPS jamming was deliberate. He did not elaborate on what the objective of the act may have been, but did say that Russia was known to have the capabilities to carry it out.

According to Yle, head of the ministry’s security policy and crisis management unit Sari Rautio said that both sides in the discussion showed interest in aviation safety, but that no further concrete steps were agreed. It is unclear what a possible follow-up on the request for additional information would be. ms Rautio declined to comment further on Mr Kuznetsov’s response to the issue at the meeting, but said it was a normal diplomatic interaction, carried out in a positive spirit.

According to a statement by the Russian Embassy on Monday, Finland provided no evidence to prove that the source of disruption was located in Russia. « We received no information proving that the jamming source was located in Russia. In this regard, we believe that a thorough expert dialogue, involving the relevant agencies from the countries of the region, is necessary for the consideration of such situations, » Ambassador Kuznetsov stated.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Russia had no information about GPS failures or its possible involvement.

Media:  Ilkka , Ilta-Sanomat, Keskisuomalainen, Savon Sanomat (E-edition), YLE
Date: 20.11.2018
Journalist: STT: Anniina Luotonen, Nina Törnudd, Hannu Aaltonen
Main source: