GLOBAL NEWS FLASH (w/c: 18MAY2021)
SOURCED BY: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Finns in talks with U.N., NATO over Russian refusal to leave
Repeated demands by the Finnish government for Russia to cease drilling operations, leave the country, and revisit the Finnish-Russian Economic Revitalization Treaty of 2021 (FRERT) have been met with continued refusal from the Russian government. Now, Finnish President Laina Virtanen said she’s reached out to the United Nations and NATO to help resolve the increasingly tense situation.
“It is clear the Finnish-Russian Economic Revitalization Treaty must be revisited,” Virtanen said in a statement today. “Confrontations between the Finnish people and Russian security agents have become increasingly violent. We have seen evidence that Russian forces are overstepping their bounds and our demands for them to leave our borders continue to fall on deaf ears. We’ve been left no choice but to explore all options to remove their presence.”
President Virtanen refused to comment about the possibility of military action against the Russians should they continue their presence but did confirm she has begun discussions with NATO to seek their support. Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, confirmed the talks this afternoon.
“The situation in Finland is troublesome,” Stoltenberg said in a statement today. “President Virtanen has presented us with multiple claims of human rights violations on part of the Russians and has suggested the Russian presence has violated what was allowed by the FRERT. NATO will begin our own investigation into these matters.”
In his own statement on the situation António Guterres, secretary general of the U.N., has said his organization will begin efforts to reach a peaceful resolution between the two member countries. Guterres also indicated the U.N. has begun investigating the details of the FRERT to determine its continued validity and has joined with the Finnish government in asking that the Russian presence in Finland end until issues with the treaty can be resolved.
Stoltenberg said NATO will not commit support to Finland until it can conduct its own investigation but indicated NATO shares the U.N.'s call for Russia to leave Finland until the treaty between the two countries can be reviewed. Stoltenberg also condemned the terrorist attack on the Russian consulate and other violence committed by Finnish citizens against Russians saying the violence on both sides is evidence of the need to lower tensions in the country.
Finland is not a member of NATO but is one of the organization’s most active partners in multinational peace-support operations. Concern about Russian activity in the region has motivated NATO cooperation with both Finland and Sweden in recent years.
Neither Guterres nor Stoltenberg would comment about evidence of Russian human rights violations.
In her statement today, President Virtanen referenced claims made on social media over the weekend that accused agents of Safe Asia, a Russian-contracted security company, of conducting multiple raids on Saturday to capture, detain, and in some cases, allegedly execute individuals who led protests which had turned violent against the contractors. The social media post, by an anonymous poster using the screen name ProFinn, also claimed Safe Asia and other Russian security agents have threatened local media outlets to hide the true nature of their presence in Russia.
Evidence supporting the claims has not yet surfaced although Virtanen’s referencing of the post included a statement that individuals who remained detained on Monday had been released by Safe Asia. According to experts, the treaty between Finland and Russia allows Russian security agents to detain individuals trespassing or attempting to harm Russian equipment or personnel, but those individuals must be turned over to the Police of Finland within two hours.
This published news excerpt is the fictional work of the S-2 Intelligence Team of the 506th IRRU.
