Ukraine crisis talks, Stubb's strong week, undercover inspectors and a lucky lottery win

Hello Insiders! 

This is yet another week where I felt like news in Finland was not necessarily “Finnish news” but where world events have washed over us, and swept us up in the tidal wave of geopolitics.

It’s a reminder (as if one was needed) that Finland is not isolated nor an island, but linked to Europe and the rest of the world, and things that happen in other places impact Finland too.

As I write this latest edition of the Finland Insider newsletter on Sunday afternoon, President Alexander Stubb is in London at a crisis meeting called by British PM Keir Starmer to discuss security and support for Ukraine.

The president told the BBC “Take a deep breath. Take an ice bath, go to the sauna, reflect. We'll be back” (Note: this is very similar to what he’s said in the past - Stubb likes to give these folksy sauna comments for international media consumption).

Stubb has had a robust week: he started on Monday with other Nordic and Baltic leaders visiting Ukraine on the third anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion, and he’s been praised for a speech he gave in Kyiv. Sitting alongside Zelenskyy, Stubb said:

It’s worth watching / listening to his full speech in the link above to get the whole context.

Inside Track: Finland, Russia, Ukraine 

It’s hard to overestimate the shockwave across European politics after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday. The images of a sitting US president and his deputy seeming to gang up and attack a wartime president from a supposed ally, and make Ukraine seem like the villain while letting Russia off the hook, were astonishing.

It’s forced Europe to rapidly increase its ‘thought revolution’ on security, especially if the USA can’t be relied upon. It’s forced Europe to consider a future without NATO as we know it today. And it’s forced Europe to double down on efforts to guarantee our own security, and security of supply as well as production of weapons, military equipment and ammunition in the face of continued Russian aggression - and the very real prospect that the USA could still come to some sort of deal with Russia to end the war that is very unfavourable for Ukraine and Europe.

Here’s a look at some of the reactions following Trump and Zelenskyy’s meeting:

Political reaction

🔵 President Alex Stubb told public broadcaster Yle on Saturday that "It was a diplomatic failure with only one winner, who wasn't even present: Vladimir Putin,” and added that he was astonished and saddened by events in the White House.

🔵 Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP):

On Sunday, speaking to journalists, Orpo went out of his way to say how strong the ties are between Finland and the USA, and that he was sure Finland could still rely on the Americans as allies.

🔵 Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen (NCP):

🔵 At the opposite end of the diplomatic scale, Helsinki City Councilor Otto Meri (NCP) pulled no punches when he wrote “For three years you've defended your homeland from an attack by a rogue state, and after that, you still have to listen to the bullshit of a convicted criminal.”

🔴 Social Democrat leader Antti Lindtman:

🔴 Oulu MP Tytti Tuppurainen (SDP) the leader of Demarit’s Parliamentary Group, said in an interview with Kaleva newspaper on Sunday that: “It is not yet possible to say with certainty that the United States could not provide support for Europe and Ukraine, but uncertainty means that we have to gather those resources ourselves. One of the most effective ways is to support Ukraine's own arms industry.”

🔴 The Social Democrats have been critical this week that the government says all the right things about Ukraine, but then won’t criticise Donald Trump and the US regime directly. MP Timo Häräkkä says “Finns are incredulous to hear how the National Coalition Party's foreign policymakers constantly downplay Trump's pro-Russian stance,” and claims the Foreign Ministry was unprepared for dealing with a new, more chaotic, second Trump term in office.

🔴 Left Alliance MEP Li Andersson gave an interview where she described how the European left should have “taken the initiative earlier to create and develop an alternative European security architecture, including security guarantees. A concrete alternative to NATO membership that we could have put forward in the debates after the invasion of Ukraine.”

🟢 Green MEP Ville Niinistö said on Sunday “the White House episode was sad, but there was little else on offer.”

Media reaction

📰 Helsingin Sanomat describes US Vice President JD Vance as “Trump’s bad cop”, and in an editorial, HS Editor-in-Chief Erja Yläjärvi has a warning about how newsrooms need to balance the sheer volume of news - which can be depressing and overwhelming, like during the COVID pandemic - with clear context and sharp analysis.

“Trump is constantly seeking maximum visibility, constantly outdoing himself and his comments. When you combine this with the Kremlin's desire to turn everything into its own communication opportunity in Russia, we are quickly in an almost permanent news cycle,” Yläjärvi writes on Sunday.

📺 MTV Uutiset Europe Correspondent Janne Puumalainen says that “Europeans must decide among themselves whether Ukraine can be sufficiently supported without the United States and how to strengthen European security on their own.

“How can we ensure that Russia and the United States do not negotiate solutions for Ukraine and Europe over their heads? What kind of security guarantees can Europe promise Ukraine?”

Expert reaction

✒️ In her excellent new Substack article on Sunday, Finnish researcher Minna Ålander (who is now an Associate Fellow at Chatham House) argues that: “It is time for Europe to stop being weak. Granted, military build-up is an expensive and often slow process, but it can be done. Europe has enough money to keep Ukraine in the fight and if it prioritizes its resources and political will right, success is a realistic option.”

✒️ From the Finnish Institute for International Affairs FIIA, Senior Researcher Charly Salonius-Pasternak does some fact-checking of US media claims (which parrot US government claims) about how much money America has given to Ukraine. (Spoiler alert: Charly finds that the official US numbers do not add up).

✒️ And Janne M. Korhonen - my favourite left-wing hawk - from the Sorsa Foundation (although writing in a purely personal capacity) again makes credible arguments about why small states like Finland should be developing their own nuclear deterrent.

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Inside the headlines: 

🇨🇰 Finnish authorities will release the Cook Islands-registered Eagle-S oil tanker, which investigators believe broke a Baltic Sea power cable and four internet lines late last year. The vessel will be escorted to international waters, even as the criminal probe continues, police said on Sunday.

Transmission system operators Fingrid and Elering have decided not to enforce the seizure of the Eagle-S due to the financial risks involved. They say the costs of taking possession and maintaining the vessel would likely be higher than the value of the vessel itself.

⚖️ Norwegian veterinarian Rolf Nordmo has been formally charged with the murder of his former partner, Finnish ice hockey player Janne Puhakka, who was shot dead last October in Espoo in a crime that shocked the country. Puhakka became the first Finnish professional men’s ice hockey player to come out as gay, and had carved out a post-hockey career for himself on reality TV, and as an entrepreneur and advocate for LGBTQI+ issues.

🚔 Police warned this week about crime gangs operating in Finnish ports, many with international links. Senior officials said Thursday there’s around 100 crime gangs with 1000 members!

🇺🇦 Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen (NCP) announced the launch of a new support programme for Ukraine worth €660 million. The money will be spent on orders of Finnish military materiel for use by Ukrainian forces.

🚇 The capital region’s public transport operator HSL says it’s adding more undercover ticket inspectors, to help combat what it says is a €40 million per year financial black hole caused by people not paying for their travel on trams, trains, busses, ferries and the subway.

💡 The Finnish Energy Authority has become the latest institution to announce it’s phasing out communications on Elon Musk’s increasingly radical social media platform X, and has now opened a Bluesky account instead.

🥳 A lucky punter from the town of Liperi in Eastern Finland scooped €2 million on the Saturday night Lotto game. He had the only winning ticket and told state-owned gambling authority Veikkaus that: “Now we have to digest this information in the family circle and just try to calm down. I don't know what to do with the winnings yet, but there's always a use for money.”

Insider Politics:

Despite the current focus on international events, and how they impact Finland, expect to see a shift to more coverage of the upcoming municipal elections which take place in April. Some of that coverage is already making itself known in this week’s Finland Insider newsletter:

🟢 The Greens launched their election campaign on Wednesday. Among their headline policy initiatives, Vihreät wants better mental health services, and they would experiment with a “mental health ambulance” which they say would reduce the workload in hospital emergency rooms.

🐿️ Vihreät also wants to see the establishment of a new nature reserve in every municipality in the country.

🍀 Centre Party leader Antti Kaikkonen is proposing more economic growth and distance learning opportunities for people living outside of Finland’s urban areas. Curiously, his party does best in municipal elections outside of Finland’s urban areas…

🗳️ Former Finns Party minister Vilhelm Junnila, who was forced to apologise (but survived a vote of no-confidence in parliament) after I exposed his links to neo-Nazi groups in the summer of 2023, now says he wants to be the Mayor of Turku.

🚊 One of the schemes the far-right politician is opposing in Turku is a new tram system. He claims that trams in Vantaa have increased “problems” in the “immigrant-dominated suburbs”, without being more specific.

🔫 MPs from the Centre Party and Left Alliance are calling for the government’s latest defence report to be updated in light of America’s apparent change in policy towards NATO, Europe and defence issues.

The report was published in late December, before the Trump Administration came to power in Washington DC, but Centre and Left MPs say that since then, there’s been a dramatic shift in US foreign and security policy and the report should be re-written, because the deterrent effect of NATO is being partly eroded.

🤰 Former Green leader Maria Ohisalo, now an MEP in Brussels, announced on social media this week that she’s pregnant with her second child. Onnea Maria!

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Finland International:

🇩🇪 PM Orpo sent his congratulations to the presumptive new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz after his CDU/CSU party ended up with the most number of seats in the Bundestag. “A strong Germany is essential for a strong Europe” Orpo wrote:

✈️ The UK’s Time Out magazine crowns Helsinki as the safest city in Europe for solo female travellers.

🇱🇧 Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen (NCP) had a call with her Lebanese counterpart this week, where she encouraged “decisive” political and economic reforms that “are essential for Lebanon’s future.”

“Stabilizing the Middle East and achieving a lasting end to all violence is our shared goal. We look forward to strengthening our cooperation bilaterally, through the EU and on international fora,” Valtonen said.

And finally…

😅 I like to look each week for the lighter side of Finland online and there’s so many talented creators out there putting together fun, silly, fascinating content online I’m spoiled for choice!

🍸 After all the scary and/or depressing news in the last few days you’d be forgiven for turning to drink - so here’s a quirky suggestion from Alottelevajuoppo making their own flavour of Finnish hard liquor using Fazer pineapple candies. (The same account suggests carving shot glasses for Koskenkorva out of thick sausages, with a side of mustard, but that’s a hard pass from me!) Kippis!

Thank you, kiitos, tack! 

🤗 That’s all for now, thank you for reading all the way to the end!

We’ll stick to Sunday deliveries for now because it’s what you guys have asked for and voted for (and it’s what you are engaging with the most) so maybe Sunday turns out to be the perfect day to recap the week in news so you can be fully up to speed before Monday morning hits.

In the meantime, if you have something you’d like me to cover, a scoop, or story tip then send an email directly to [email protected] and I’ll take a look.

See you next Sunday!

David