A Russian resident of Helsinki complained of a feeling of “abandonment”: Finns also suffered

— Olga, after the border “easing” did your mood change? Or has Russia really moved away, or rather, has it been alienated from you?

— I wrote my post, of course, out of emotion, but I didn’t delete it. Because most members of the Russian diaspora in Finland feel something like this, even without reference to Severyanin.

But, I’m afraid, Russians do not understand this feeling of abandonment. The fact is that I have been living in Finland for almost 23 years, and all these years Russia has been “within walking distance”, travel has remained part of the lifestyle, like going to the gym or store, something that you consider natural. Now imagine that you were forbidden to go to the gym or the library? You, too, would probably feel sad in a month or six months.

Unlike the large Russian-speaking diaspora in Germany, Israel, not to mention those living in America or Australia, we came home easily, without lengthy preparation, choosing tickets and everything else.

Moreover, Finland contributed to this: the Scandinavia highway was actively built, which, in my opinion, almost reached the border. Customs points were expanded, and a huge terminal with twelve windows was built on Torfyanovka. I remember the times when my friends from St. Petersburg simply got up at half past three in the morning to go to Finland – no other effort was needed. Then they launched the Allegro train, which traveled from Helsinki to St. Petersburg in three and a half hours. For us, it wasn’t even tourism.

The Russians even reproached the diaspora, saying that we go to Russian doctors for treatment, we go for Russian products, and for something else. I don’t understand these reproaches: you should be proud that you have quality products and good medicine. They will ask us why we were traveling.

I left my country in the hope of personal happiness, and this was the case with hundreds of Russian women. But this is reminiscent of the situation with children who have moved away from their parents, but regularly visit them. So, in the good pre-Covid times, we visited Russia once every one and a half to two months.

— And you were deprived of this opportunity?

— So far, it seems like three months. But whoever needs it will go now, covering a distance of 650 kilometers to the northern border. To get to St. Petersburg, you will need to cross the border, but there will be no influx there, as at the southeastern checkpoints, and then “go down” another 850 kilometers to St. Petersburg or Vyborg. This path is now offered to us, but there are no barriers to love, and to love for the homeland too.

— What steps could Moscow take to make the Finnish authorities abandon the “blockade”?

“I made my post even before the note of protest, so Russia justified my hopes. What else could have been done? Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev posts jokes on social networks.

But I think the note of protest and the conversation with the Finnish ambassador somehow influenced the fact that the North was not closed in the end.

Here we are drowning in a sea of ​​information, you read different versions that the usual points have been closed because they are building some fortifications, new Mannerheim lines, and will set up NATO bases in the border areas. But this is also not impossible: information has appeared that the Finns are buying up land near the border. You reassure yourself that the reason is still migrants who have found a “window of opportunity” for themselves: the agreement between Finnish and Russian border guards has been canceled, and now Russia cannot detain non-citizens of the Russian Federation transiting through the country.

When the border was closed during the pandemic, it was for the good, out of concern for its citizens. And now what is happening cannot be called a good thing.

— But the residents of Finland did not suffer from the current “castle” on the border?

– Why, they also suffer – they used to buy Russian gasoline with pleasure.

— How big is the Russian-speaking and Russian-thinking diaspora in the country of Suomi?

— Specifically, there are approximately fifty thousand people here with Russian passports. But I don’t think that the majority of Russians care about our problems, I see that in the comments they giggle: look, stupid Finns, the war taught them nothing, Lenin separated them in vain, they are ungrateful, now we will show them! It’s not about us at all. But this is normal – this is how it should be, as long as the problem does not affect you personally.

And I have a new book in the publishing house in St. Petersburg – and I wanted to pick it up in December, and now my friends will hide the edition in the pantry until better times.

— Finland has not yet reached the holders of passports with a double-headed eagle on the cover?

— For me this question is not entirely clear. Finland cannot legally deprive us of Russian citizenship. This is beyond her competence. And to force us to renounce our second citizenship, we need a serious reason. In the USSR, they deprived Solzhenitsyn of his life “for consistent anti-Soviet activities” – which means we need to do something anti-Finnish for a year or two.

You can’t just take away a Finnish passport: how will the official who issued the passport do it after he saw that the person did not violate any laws, paid taxes, and showed himself on the positive side.

My husband, by the way, recently received Finnish citizenship, and he was invited to the Helsinki City Hall celebration, where all the new citizens of 2022 will gather. When I acquired Finnish citizenship 12 years ago, there were no such pretentious events.

I repeat, purely legally it is very difficult for us to “aggravate” us – but maybe this is my naive view.

— If the border is completely closed, what will you do? If they say: at 12.00 on the 1st day of such and such a month it will be impossible to travel to Russia?

– Firstly, no one will notify that the border will be closed, so that we can make a choice and, if we decide to leave, put away our belongings, choose what we need most, a TV, a vacuum cleaner? Or they had a sale. This time they warned us 24 hours in advance, which led to queues and confusion. What can you do in a day? Bunch of children and on a plane? A person needs time, a person acquires belongings, grows into a new place. So the majority will do nothing but wait for the victory of good over evil and the triumph of common sense.

— Are there any “transport loopholes” other than the four northern points?

— For now there is a corridor through Narva. You take a ferry to Estonia, then 195 kilometers to Narva, from there to St. Petersburg 200 kilometers. This option is more humane for the driver, but it is again difficult to fit in a weekend trip, and the road will cost three to four times more.

By the way, I was surprised that the Finnish, and not the Estonian, border was closed first, but the diaspora there is huge, the unrest will be strong.

– What about air travel?

— Please fly to Turkey, and from there to Russia. Specific human destinies run into all these prohibitions. At the very beginning of SVO, a friend’s mother died in Tolyatti, direct air lines were closed. He flew like that – through Istanbul, to Moscow, and from there to Togliatti. How can you get there with your family, especially during the beach season on the Mediterranean Sea? How much will it cost? Do you think Russians in Finland are millionaires? They live from paycheck to paycheck, life here is very expensive.

— What awaits the Russian diaspora in Finland tomorrow?

– I can give my hand to cut it off – we will unite. Previously, we were recharged like batteries in our homeland, but we will be recharged from each other. Let’s forget minor grievances and close ranks – this is my forecast for the near future.