Putin's yacht, Trump's tariffs, municipal elections and the best lunch in Finland

Hello Insiders!

For lovers of foreign policy and Finnish politics - and surely that’s a Venn diagram which doesn’t just have me overlapping in the middle? - then this was another riveting week.

From Donald Trumps tariffs on Finnish goods and services, to Vladimir Putin’s luxury yacht spotted off the coast of Hanko; from political theatre in parliament to a rogue government minister; and from courting the Kremlin and reassuring the Nordic Council, there’s something for everyone in this week’s Finland Insider newsletter!

There’s also a link to my latest interview with another of the leading candidates to be the next Mayor of Helsinki, Daniel Sazonov (NCP); plus 90th birthday celebrations for the best president Finland never had (in my humble opinion - but what do I know?)

All that is still to come - plus a curious question about lunch - but first this:

Inside track: Ukraine, Russia and Donald Trump

🇷🇺 Yacht. MTV Uutiset reports that Vladimir Putin’s luxury yacht has been spotted sailing in the Gulf of Finland, not too far from the coast of Hanko on Sunday afternoon. The 111-metre long, 24-metre wide ‘Voyevoda’ is reportedly equipped with eight apartments, each with a bedroom, bathroom and office. The ship also has conference rooms, and is capable of carrying four smaller vessels and two helicopters, Maikkari reports.

🇺🇸 Tariffs. When US President Donald Trump announced his sweeping tariffs against European countries this week, one Finnish government minister broke ranks and suggested Finland should ‘go it alone’ and negotiate its own separate trade deal with Washington. Wille Rydman (Finns) the Minister for Economic Affairs said: “In this world, where economics and politics are intertwined, Finland should not be more holy than the Pope himself, but should be able to courageously defend its own economic interests” by striking a bilateral trade deal directly with Trump and the White House.

🇪🇺 But Rydman had to pipe down when an adult started talking, with PM Petteri Orpo (NCP) putting the far-right politician in his place saying: “We are not currently holding bilateral negotiations on any trade policy. Trade policy is clearly within the competence of the EU, and we will act through it.” Orpo knows there is strength through unity.

Earlier, Orpo had said that Trump’s wildcat tariffs were “worrying” and that “there are no winners in a trade war.”

🚘 Tesla. Finland’s Tesla Takedown protest group are urging folks to “sell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket lines,” adding that “hurting Tesla is stopping Musk.”

🔄 The Minister of Foreign Trade Ville Taavio said: “Tariffs increase costs and slow down economic growth at a time when we desperately need it.” It’s ironic (and amusing) to see Taavio react so hurt to Trump’s policies because he infamously celebrated Trump’s 2016 election win in a social media post 😇 

☎️Calls. Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen (NCP) says it’s far too early for anyone in Europe to be talking about making phone calls to Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. Speaking on Saturday after meeting her NATO counterparts the previous day in Brussels, Valtonen said: "No one [in Europe] feels that Putin should be called tomorrow," and added that there had not even been a discussion at the meeting about this issue.

That seems like a bit of a contradiction because just a few days earlier, President Alexander Stubb (NCP) told reporters in London that Europe has started talking about when and how to contact Putin.

Lead. Stubb also said that the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ needs to figure out one country, either France or the UK, to take the lead in dealing with Russia at some stage.

🇷🇺 Enemy. Speaking on Yle on Saturday morning Valtonen somewhat confusingly said that Russia was not an enemy of Finland.

💰 Spending. Finland will increase its defence spending to a 3% share of GDP by 2029. But just one small catch, the government isn’t able to say exactly how it will fund that / at the expense of what other budgets it will happen.

🇩🇰 Patria. Denmark has ordered 130 armoured personnel carriers from Patria, Finland’s majority state-owned military hardware manufacturer. The deal is valued at nearly €250m.

💣 Landmines. Finland plans to quit a global convention banning anti-personnel landmines, in response to the evolving military threat from Russia, the government said on Tuesday. By leaving the 1997 Ottawa convention, Finland, which which guards NATO’s longest border with Russia, could start stockpiling landmines again to have them at hand should a need arise.

🇳🇴 Landmines 2. Norway’s foreign minister said that Helsinki’s decision is “something that we regret.”

"If we start weakening our commitment, it makes it easier for warring factions around the world to use these weapons again, because it reduces the stigma,” says Espen Barth Eide.

💥 Landmines 3. Former Finnish President Tarja Halonen (SDP) is wary about backing out of the Ottawa landmine convention and said she hopes parliament is given sufficient time to discuss the issue properly.

🔺 Landmines 4. Finnish defence-tech company Insta says it is interested to start producing the next generation of landmines when Finland pulls out of the Ottawa Convention. The company has designed a bouncing landmine which springs into the air and fires projectiles all around it, when triggered. Sounds delightful! 😬

🏬 Shelters. Finland’s colossal bomb shelters are “a model for jittery Europe” writes AFP.

🇬🇱 Greenland. After a weekend cosying-up to Donald Trump on the golf course in Florida, President Stubb had to reassure Nordic Council politicians meeting in Helsinki this week that “Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark” and that Greenlanders would decide their own future.

Insider original: 

🔵 Advance voting has been underway this week, ahead of Sunday’s municipal elections, and regional healthcare board elections.

I talked with Kokoomus candidate Daniel Sazonov who went over issues around building the right kind of homes as the city expands; talked about green spaces and nature; keeping Helsinki welcoming for immigrants and visiting foreigners; and what sort of Helsinki there would be with him running City Hall.

Click here to read the full story: 

Inside the headlines:

⚖️ Court. Norwegian veterinarian Rolf Nordmo was convicted of killing his ex-partner, former ice hockey player Janne Puhakka, and sentenced to life in prison. Nordmo shot Puhakka twice in the chest last October at the Espoo home the pair had shared when they were together. Puhakka had returned to collect some of his belongings when the attack took place. After shooting him, Nordmo beat Puhakka on the head with the metal butt of the rifle. The prosecution had wanted a tougher sentence and will appeal. If the current sentence stands, Nordmo will serve 14-15 years. He has also been told to pay the victim’s family €60,000 compensation.

🎭 Arts. A petition to stop swingeing government cuts to arts and culture budgets was handed over in Helsinki on Saturday. Some 130,000 people, including politicians and people who work in the arts and culture sector, signed the document.

🍽️ Lunch. MTV Uutiset asked a question this week. A question so intriguing that I just had to click on the link immediately to read more: “Who eats the best lunch: a child, a prisoner, or an elderly person?” Before reading, what would you guess the answer to be?

💍 Divorce. New figures unveiled this week from Eurostat show that Finland has the third highest divorce rate in the EU, behind Latvia and Lithuania.

🌦️ Weather. It’s getting hot in here. Officially. Our meteorologist friend Mika Rantanen has been taking a look at how historically hot it was in Helsinki during March:

Insider politics

🇪🇸 Voting. Advance voting has been so popular in Fuengirola, Spain, that voters have had to wait in a queue for up to 45 minutes to cast their ballots. Thousands of Finns live in and around the Spanish town, which is known as “Little Finland” because of the range of shops and restaurants which sell Finnish products; and other services like a newspaper, churches and dentists available in Finnish.

🗳️ Swedish. Helsingin Sanomat has been doing interviews with the main political party leaders ahead of next weekend’s elections. One that stood out for me is Anders Adlercreutz from the Swedish People’s Party SFP/RKP. He said the party is not a “Gypsy” party, ie: not just willing to move around and set up its political home wherever is convenient at the time. "I think that there are no other centre-right, liberal parties in Finland besides us" said Adlercreutz, whose “center-right, liberal” party is in coalition government with the far-right Finns Party.

🎈 Birthday. One of Finland’s most respected politicians Elisabeth Rehn turns 90 today. The former Swedish People’s Party politician was Europe’s first female defence minister back in the early 1990s; ran for president in 1994 narrowly losing to Martti Ahtisaari; and was the UN’s Special Representative for Bosnia (among many other impressive accomplishments during her career). In a wide-ranging interview with Iltalehti, Elisabeth talks about US diplomacy, Finland in NATO, her party’s role in government, and Alex Stubb’s relationship with Donald Trump.

💬 Debates. The Social Democrats have pulled off an impressive piece of political theatre in parliament this week, stretching the debates about government cuts to social welfare and education into the wee small hours. On Wednesday and Thursday discussions continued until the speaker called things to a halt at 2am. According to Tytti Tuppurainen the Social Democrats Parliamentary Group Chairperson, her MPs will keep on asking the government questions until they get some answers.

🟢 Green. Atte Harjanne wants to be the next Mayor of Helsinki. If you didn’t catch my interview with him last week, here’s a second bite at that apple as he talks about building more houses; green spaces; reversing the decline of the downtown Helsinki area;, and government policies on immigrants which he says “really hurt” the capital.

Click here to read the full story. 

🚔 Threat. A man who threatened to burn down the home of Finns Party MP Laura Huuhtasaari for the second time has been fined €225. Threats of violence against politicians are never okay.

🏥 Health. Former government minister and 2018 presidential candidate Tuula Haatainen (SDP) has revealed in an interview that she has basel cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer. The tumor is on her forehead and will be removed in the coming weeks. Tuula is a former nurse and says despite this she didn’t pay much attention at first to the small mark on her forehead which would later be diagnosed as cancer. I wish her the best of luck with the treatment, and a speedy recovery. She remains on the ballot in Helsinki for the municipal elections.

🗳️ Candidates. New figures from Statistics Finland show that the total number of candidates in the municipal and regional healthcare board elections has decreased by 16% this year.

Finland international

🇲🇲 Aid. Finland will give €1 million in humanitarian assistance to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) “to alleviate the considerable humanitarian needs caused by the earthquake in Myanmar,” the foreign ministry says in a statement.

With this money, the IFCR will be able to help internally displaced people, women and girls, and people with disabilities, according to Ulkoministeriö.

🇹🇭 Thailand. The Times of Israel reports that an Israeli national has been detained by authorities in Thailand after a Finn made an allegation of sexual assault. The Israeli man, age 36, was apparently stopped at Phuket Airport hours after a warrant was issued for his arrest. A 19-year-old Finnish woman alleged the man fondled and kissed her while drinking on Ko Samui beach.

🇺🇸 Missing. Authorities in the US state of Utah are looking for a missing Finn who hasn’t been seen since he arrived at Salt Lake City airport on 5 March.

🇨🇳 China. Speaker of Parliament Jussia Halla-aho (Finns) is on a three-day visit to Beijing and Shanghai. This year marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Finland and China.

And finally…

🎵 Helsinki. Temperatures climbed to +19°C in Helsinki this week. The perfect weather to be strolling around, eating an ice cream, and hoping that it doesn’t get attacked by a seagull. One of my favourite urban photographers is Ants Vahter who has done an amazing job capturing the city as it comes to life after a long hibernation…

Thank you, kiitos, tack!

As usual, a big thank you if you made it all the way to the end. It took me munch longer this week that I anticipated to put the newsletter together but that’s kind of the point: sometimes there is news, and sometimes there isn’t!

If you’d like to get in touch with a comment, question, scoop or story tip then send me an email directly at [email protected]

Catch you next Sunday - election day!

David