“Lists for any type of attack”: the idyllic city of Finland on the first line of tensions between Russia and OTAN

Apennas 20 kilometers from the Russian front, Lappeenranta había sido a perfect example of good relations between Helsinki and Moscowin the famous “pragmatism” brand of Finland.

The city presupposes a special location on the border between the West and the Orient, which transforms local commerce and industry, combining unique features with local culture.

However, even if the rest of the country, the protection that OTAN offers against it is inclined a vecino in the one that has been configured.

The Finnish government of Sanna Marin hastened its passage to affiliation with the military alliance that encamped the United States and other potential powers. A 62% of Finns have a decisive share.

But for those who have seen vivid decks of relation to the vein, the dramatic exchange rate does not turn the fossil series.

The citizens of Lappeenranta and their other cities are aware that the exchange rate is not free.

“Because of the pandemic, but the restrictions, perdemos and diaryo a million euros debiding that Russian tourists do not come to buy in our region. “Now, with the war and our nightmares about uniting with OTAN, we do not have to wait for the current situation,” said Kimmo Jarva, the city’s alcalde, on BBC Mundo.

Lappeenranta has been mentioned as many places in Finland the benefits in the good relations with Moscow.

Every year, million and medium of Russian cruzaban the front to disfrut from your hospitality and its unacceptable location south of Saimaa, the most large lake in the country.

También is a destination destined for you sell books impuestowhich motivates the Russians to pay for diarrhea in order to buy more goods and return home.

When the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia following the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the Kremlin responded by importing foodstuffs from European countries. Lappeenranta se convirtió entons in the life of millions of Russians in the area to buy the products in one piece.

Florentine bargains lasting one oil on the other side of the front grinder. The city, hecho, is located near St. Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia, like Helsinki, is the capital of Finland.

“Abrimos officers (tourists) in St. Petersburg and Vyborg. We visit every street.

Pero ahora hay apenas vehículos en los pasos fronterizos. Both countries have practically vetoed the effect of commercial and private traffic between territorial territories.

The offices in St. Petersburg that advertised Lappeenranta as the gateway between Russia and Occidente han cerrado.

“Save a lot of money and a lot of money so that we can fly to see “, lamenta el alcalde.

For decades, Finland is gala of a relatively neutral hacienda Russia. Lifting the end of the Segunda Guerra Mundial as a way of securing the front pave a much more powerful one.

It is commonly known as “Finnishization”, a concept conceived by Finland to facilitate its anti-Soviet neutrality and the creation of political and civic generations.

Affiliation with OTAN jamás había alcanzado more than 30% of the approval between Finns. Semanas despised the invasion of Russia and Ukraine, the public opinion made a dramatic round, doubling up to an approbation of 62%, the highest in the history of the enclaves.

Not only that, the number of resistors in the membrane will drop from 40% in 2021 to only 16% high.

“In the meantime, this is because the population of frontier cities (like Lappeenranta) is relatively low,” said Charlie Salonius-Pasternak, an analyst with the BBC World Service, an investigator at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

“Here is the majority that Russia does not attach to Finland is sufficiently amable. If Russia decides to attack, it will take any form, as in Ukraine. “There is a creation that does not work or does not work”, added the expert

“In this war, our city has rapidly changed its mind. We want those who have achieved the uniqueness of the OTAN to do the right thing,” Jarva said.

The 1,300-kilometer frontier is a small country, but Russia is 50 more than 26 square kilometers.

Durante siglos, the shadow of the Russian expansionist aspirations is projected to be territory invaded by various variations.

The fortification of Lappeenranta fue, of hecho, constructed by the Russians in 1775 tras a battle battle in which the inhabitants of Finland murieron.

Initiated by Segunda Guerra Mundial, as a bookstore, a relative war broke out in which Finland had to take Soviet advances but could not avoid being part of a territory.

Extensions of Karelia, the region in which the site Lappeenranta, fueron ocupadas por los soviet durante el conflicto. The Sufi city was bombed.

For experts like Salonius-Pasternak, this double’s cooperation relation to the rival’s egg is like “waiting” between front lines.

“There are a lot of people who take Russian tourists to a seminar, the next step is to find a verse in the reserve that says that because the Russians have attacked it.

Russian officials have passed advertisements and amenities against the passages of Finland and Sweden, other than those adjacent, to book with OTAN.

A risk that the Finns will never be available to the Assyrians and for what they are going to list.

“We are prepared for cybercrime, diffusion of false notices, but they are not created in the middle of the field or the algae type of the problem. many other parts of Europe “, says Jarva.

Pragmatism, to be precise, is one of those words that most repeat the functions of Lappeenranta with respect to what can be suggested in the future.

Confident in that the car that’s having its own dull bundle. We are talking about Vladimir Putin and those responsible for the war. Not with the Russian citizens.

“As a popular city, the second most visited city in Finland is Helsinki. And we specialize in Russian tourism,” said Markku Heinonen, BBC World’s project manager for the city.

“Many Russians are traveling through other parts of Europe and the United States, which is in the OTAN, as if it were a problem that is being solved.

“Tenemos también otras fuentes de ingreso y otras industrias. Tenemos una universitad important. No solo vivimos del turismo”, complete Päivi Pietiläinen, jefa of international relations del ayuntamiento.

More than 80 nationalities conviven en this city has more than 70,000 inhabitantsincluding an important Russian population.

“This is not the culmination of a lot. We are the ones who live and breathe in peace, but for Putin and all those responsible for this war, we are the ones who record decadents in order to return to normalcy,” Jarva said.

You can now download BBC World notifications. Download our app and activate it before using our largest container.