“Ville Haapasalo talks about Ukraine to boost sales of his khachapuri”

Olga Pussinen was born in Mordovia, graduated from the Mordovian University, and defended her dissertation in St. Petersburg. Since 2001 she has been living in the capital of Finland, she received her PhD from the University of Helsinki, and for many years she has been the editor-in-chief of the Finnish Russian-language literary magazine “Other Shores of Vieraat rannat”, published by the Association of Russian-speaking writers of Finland.

– Olga, do I understand correctly that you are a citizen of Finland and at the same time Russia?

Yes, I have dual citizenship.

– I remember that you used to travel to St. Petersburg and Moscow very often, literally torn between the two capitals. Is travel much more difficult now?

Yes, our trains have been cancelled. “Leo Tolstoy” went to Moscow, “Allegro” went to St. Petersburg. It was so convenient. But now regular buses run, and it remains possible to travel by personal transport.

Only at the border they began to inspect more carefully, not only Finnish, but also Russian border guards.

— Identify suspicious visitors?

“The traffic has dwindled—and they have time to inspect more carefully.

– “Fence” on the border will not hurt?

– The Finnish parliament has been rushing about this fence for several years, and even before the special operation, this was discussed. The situation in relations between the Russian Federation and the West heated up gradually. But a fence is the perfect opportunity to master a budget. The “thorn” is already there. But it will be demolished and a new wonderful fence will be built for a hundred million euros. And the EU will allocate money. Why not build? However, I don’t think it will be the “Berlin Wall”. What does the Finnish state want to fence itself off from? From Russian tanks or missiles? Then it will be money wasted. Any company will just get a contract and warm their paws.

— What is the situation of the Russian-speaking minority in your country now? In the past, the idea was voiced to give the Russian at least some status, but this will definitely not be done now.

— We have two official languages ​​— Finnish and Swedish.

But the part of our state, which is adjacent to Karelia, has been actively developed by Russians for the last thirty years, many have bought real estate there. In the 2000s, the well-known Finnish specialist in Russian studies, Professor Arto Mustajoki, put forward the idea of ​​replacing the study of Swedish with the study of Russian in the schools of Eastern Finland. At that time, this gave pluses to some career opportunities for a future adult citizen, because historically Swedes never lived in eastern Finland, they settled on the Western and Southern coasts. And in Karelia, the Swedish spirit definitely never smelled.

But this initiative did not receive any support. And talk about recognizing the Russian-speaking population as a national minority does not work.

– But there is no infringement of rights on the basis of language? You publish a magazine in Russian without any problems.

– There are problems. Russian periodicals are dying. We have migrated to the Internet for a long time, the authors have to chip in so that the magazine is made up and published on paper. Previously, there was a grant system, our association applied to the Ministry of Culture…

— Ministry of Culture of Finland?

– Yes. Not only Russian-speaking communities apply there, but also Estonian, Somali, Kurdish ones. Any public organization has the right to submit a request to the state funds of Finland to support a cultural project. There is no 100% guarantee that they will give money, but sometimes they did.

But when Crimea became Russian, there was a sharp reduction in funding. And about five years ago, the trend turned towards LGBT people, they allocated funds, say, to scientists who studied the motives of homosexuality in the Koran. And they stopped helping us.

— If you go to the window of a newsstand in Helsinki, can you see a newspaper or a magazine in Russian?

– If we talk specifically about the Russian press, then you need to look for it in specialized stores. There remains, it seems to me, one newspaper that exists at the expense of advertisers. Something like “Finland Trade Route” – very boring.

— Do you publish Finnish versions of Russian press brands?

— No, in this regard, Moscow is not strengthening its influence in Finland. Of the official representations – only the Russian House in Helsinki. And I can’t name serious printed publications.

– Does the Russian population have television in their native language?

– On state TV, 15 minutes a day are allocated for Russians – a news block, but only on weekdays.

– In the cult film “Brother-2”, Viktor and Danila Bagrov stumble upon Russian and Ukrainian “enclaves” in American cities, with their own national specifics and atmosphere. Are there “Russian quarters” in Helsinki?

– There are no Russian regions. The Helsinki authorities are trying to prevent segregation, this leads to bad consequences. The division exists, but it’s different: there are elite areas where wealthy Finns and Swedes live, there are more “proletarian” ones – I live in just such, and areas with a large percentage of migrants from Africa and the Middle East.

Russian shops, of course, are. As long as a person remembers and loves national cuisine, they will exist. There are probably five of them in Helsinki, but the goods are brought from Estonia, not from Russia. The names, of course, are ours, like Kalinka, but the products are made in Estonia.

– In the USA, our compatriots are faced with a lack of familiar food – and then they go to German supermarkets for lard and “Borodino” bread. Do you know similar “life hacks”?

– In Finland, there are any products, the whole question is in their recipe. I don’t know what is there in the Americas and Canada, but local pickles are cucumbers drenched in salt water with a huge content of vinegar. When a Russian person moves to the West, he understands that Russia has reached cosmic heights in cooking and conservation. With herring the same picture, Russian salting is something incredible! Finnish salted herring is a sweetness in vinegar. It is impossible for our man to eat.

As for bread, I just like Finnish bread, Finns are good at baking. And they have a very good black. And the husband prefers the Russian recipe – and goes to specialized stores for such bread.

I almost forgot – the mayonnaise here is terrible. I want to address you directly: Russians, be proud of your mayonnaise!

– Founded by Brodsky and Baryshnikov, the New York restaurant “Russian Samovar” experienced attacks by “activists” several times with the beginning of the SVO. The owners had to hold pro-Ukrainian events to prove that they were not the “hand of the Kremlin.” Could the theoretical Helsinki Matryoshka be in the same position?

– We had three restaurants, one, I think, “Shashlyk”, and also “Troika”. I don’t know what their fate is, but I haven’t heard of anyone being pressured. However, now is the crisis. The population is getting poorer and restaurants are closing. But there was no persecution because of the names.

– In Europe, the States and Canada, you can see yellow-blue flags hung out in solidarity with Kiev on the streets. Hang out in different parts of the world and tricolors – I can not help but ask if there are “battles of the flags” in your country?

“Now all this madness has subsided, it lasted for seven or eight months, until autumn. In the metro, news, advertising, and then a waving Ukrainian flag were broadcast on an electronic scoreboard. The flag was hoisted at the main railway station, pickets were placed around the city. Today, this is no longer evident, apparently, the money has run out, and the residents are tired.

— Have you seen Russian flags in Finland since February 2022?

I haven’t seen one in all 20 years.

– Recently, the actor Ville Haapasalo, whom millions of Russians know for his role in the film “Peculiarities of the National Hunt”, was noted for distributing food from a fast food kiosk on the streets “in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”

– I found his video on social networks, where he showed his stall with khachapuri. With an artistic career, he seems to have finished, and with television projects too. In the 2000s, he filmed programs about traveling around Russia, which brought him a lot of money. But, by the way, success did not particularly benefit him – he now looks like an ordinary alcoholic.

Finnish stars, as if on cue, expressed their “phi” to Russia and “evil Putin”, and Ville, I think, spoke in order not to be a black sheep. I do not know his true feelings, but it seems to me that he is talking about Ukraine in order to increase sales of his khachapuri.

– Russian culture in Helsinki is now banned – or are they not trying to ban our classics?

– Before the special operation, Russian classics were everywhere. Chekhov was regularly staged in theaters. When my child was about fifteen years old, the whole class was taken to see Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” in Finnish. Dostoevsky, perhaps, was smaller, but his name flickered. As for the ballet: a few years ago I myself went to see Boris Godunov at the Helsinki Opera. At the end of the performance, after Godunov’s death, profiles of Lenin, Stalin and Putin were shown in the projection as shadows in the background – such a clever directorial move, mild Russophobia.

– Is the Russian-speaking minority in Finland divided? Or do people from the Russian Federation try to stick together?

– At the moment, I communicate mainly with compatriots. Communication with Finns is limited, I have Finnish students (Olga Pussinen gives private Russian lessons. — I.V.), but they are much smaller. Russian people are drawn to each other, especially those who have Finnish husbands or wives. Exclusively Finnish communication is not enough for us. Emigration is a serious test, because you do not always have the opportunity to interact with people who are spiritually equal to you.

Therefore, we go to Russian shops, Russian churches (The Finnish Orthodox Church of the Patriarchate of Constantinople conducts services in Russian and Church Slavonic. — I.V.). We get haircuts at Russian hairdressers, I go to a Russian beautician …

– If ordinary people are together, then writers should do the same. How many people are in the Association of Russian-speaking writers in Finland?

– I want to upset you: it is now in the stage of extinction.

– At the time of the active phase of existence, how many members were there?

“About twenty people. And at the last yearly meeting there were five.

Does this mean that we are “losing Finland” in the literary dimension as well?

Don’t look so sad. Much depends on the activity of the compatriots themselves, and not only on external support. Rossotrudnichestvo provides financial support for various cultural initiatives. 2022 was a force majeure year, a lot did not materialize. But everything is getting better. For the last ten years I have already understood that Europe will stop pretending to be multicultural. She is multicultural in the way she needs to be.

How many years have I struggled trying to get a grant to create a Russian language textbook for bilingual children! She put forward initiatives, proposed projects, formulated her proposals in Finnish – and received rejection after rejection. In such a situation, hands down. But my colleagues receive Russian funding, hold festivals and seminars. You also need to understand that we are not Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia, where there are a huge number of Russians. And where people never left, the country left them.

And we just left here. But to say that we were abandoned would be unfair.

– In Ukraine, the niche of Russian culture was almost instantly occupied by Polish, and who in Finland can fill the void if the “Russians leave”? Sweden?

– At the university, of course, I read Strindberg (the founder of modern Swedish literature and theater), but I can’t say that Swedish culture correlates with Russian in scope. So no one will fill in. The Finns themselves will come up with something of their own. Although we have with them the concept of “culture” is incomparable.

For example, in 2021 I saw the Finnish cultural project Kakutus. The name sounds funny to the Russian ear, but this word comes from the Finnish “kakku” – cake (and this is the English “cake” in Finnish that has been transformed). And do you know what the project was? In the summer, Finnish cultural figures dotted one of the city’s beaches with sand cakes – our Easter cakes. And this powerful cultural project was financed by a state fund, that is, at the expense of taxpayers! In St. Petersburg, I remember, they held a competition of sand sculptures, so on the banks of the Peter and Paul Fortress there were full-length statues of Russian empresses. But the Russians do not notice all this.

Today, admiration for Europe is, in fact, admiration for the kingdom of sand cakes.