Russia ignored Biden's visit to Helsinki, Ilta-Sanomat writes. The Kremlin does not want to say anything positive about neighboring Finland, so it demonstrates indifference, but its silence is not an accident, Finnish political scientists believe.
The visit of US President Joe Biden to Helsinki was not widely publicized in the Russian media. Coverage of Biden's visit and a joint press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto was rather poor.
The demonstrations against NATO that took place in Helsinki during the visit were much more actively covered, and Biden's reservation: the president mistakenly called Iceland Ireland. President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin have not commented on the visit.
Russia ignored the visit of the most influential person in the world to neighboring Finland. What does this mean? "This highlights Finland's new status. They did not want to inform the Russian public about the importance of the visit. The press paid more attention to the demonstrations against NATO and the fact that Biden mixed up the words. The situation was presented in a more favorable light for Russia," said Tuomas Forsberg, professor of international politics at the University of Helsinki.
According to Forsberg, the Russian media followed the NATO summit held in Vilnius a few days earlier much more closely. "It was the number one topic in the Russian media. However, first of all, it was reported that the hopes of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky were not justified and that he is a puppet of Western countries," says Tuomas Forsberg.
"The meeting between Niinisto and Biden was no longer so interesting for Russia," Forsberg adds.
Markku Kangaspuro, director of the Alexander Institute at the University of Helsinki, says that there is a huge difference in perspective: for Finland as a new NATO member, Biden's visit was really important and had great significance.
"Russia looks at the situation taking into account a different logic and context. Fierce fighting is going on in Ukraine, and at the NATO meeting in Vilnius, Ukraine was promised considerable help and support. This is, of course, much more significant news for Russia."
"Taking into account the overall picture, Biden's visit to Helsinki did not matter much, because no new decisions were made during the visit," Kangaspuro argues. He believes that the silence may be partly due to the fact that the situation with Finland has now finally cleared up for Russia. "Finland has joined NATO, all the dots have been placed over the I."
According to Forsberg, the Russian press has not commented much on various international events for about a year. "When Finland's application to NATO was approved, a stronger reaction was expected from Russia. However, the reaction was quite calm," Forsberg recalls.
Rinna Kullaa, associate professor of World History at Tampere University, believes that Russia did not want to report on the positive aspects of Biden's visit to Finland. "The news about the demonstrations is explained by their context. Even one photo of posters with slogans against NATO or Biden is enough to indicate that the population has such a position," says Kullaa.
In her opinion, the Kremlin's silence may be connected with the political game of Finland and Russia. "Diplomatic relations between Finland and Russia have been balanced and stable for a very long time, but recently the dialogue between Helsinki and Moscow has been quite conflicted. The bank accounts of the embassies have been frozen, both countries have deported a number of diplomats, statements have been made about the closure of consulates."
"Perhaps the Kremlin is waiting for another action from Helsinki, because at some point the diplomatic maneuvers will end. The Kremlin's silence is not a delusion or an accident, there is a definite goal in the Kremlin's actions. Not talking is not the same as not wanting to talk. It was decided not to take a certain position," Kullaa believes.
In connection with Biden's visit, the Russian press wrote, among other things, that "Russia is not interested in what is happening in Helsinki or who is coming to Helsinki."
However, according to Forsberg and Kullaa, this is not the case. They are sure that Russia is just trying to pretend to be indifferent. "A typical statement for a political discussion in Russia. Of course, Russia is not indifferent to what is happening in the Baltic Sea region. Soon, apart from Russia, only NATO countries will be in the region, and St. Petersburg is very strongly connected with the Baltic Sea. It cannot be that the Kremlin does not think about this," Kulla stresses.
Tuomas Forsberg adds that Russia is carefully monitoring what kind of NATO infrastructure will come to Finland: will there be a NATO base or nuclear weapons in the country? "Russia pays special attention to Finland's actions as a NATO member. Much more attention is paid to this than to the fact that Finland is now a member of the alliance."
"This is hardly a permanent position. Perhaps later they will start spreading disinformation about Finland again and putting it in a bad light," Tuomas Forsberg is sure.
"Only when the military conflict ends in some way or when Russia frees up resources for use in other regions, we will finally see Russia's real countermeasures," adds Markku Kangaspuro.
Author: Petri Seppä
