One of tabloid Iltalehti's most-read articles on Monday morning reveals to readers that Business Finland granted a 15 million euros investment subsidy to a company owned by a Russian oligarch — just a few weeks before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Business Finland is a state-owned agency, tasked with the promotion of Finnish trade, investment and travel.
IL reports that the funding decision was made in December 2021, just as Moscow was amassing its military forces on Ukraine's borders and preparing for invasion.
The company — Nornickel Harjavalta — is reportedly owned by one of the richest men in Russia, IL adds.
A spokesperson for Business Finland told the tabloid that the money was granted based on the guidelines that were in effect at the time and there was no legal grounds to prevent it going ahead.
"When the funding was paid, the close connections of the parent company's owners to the Kremlin and their appearance on sanctions lists were taken into account. Nornickel Harjavalta is a Finnish company that, even considering its owners, was not in a situation where the grounds for the freezing of assets under sanctions would have applied," the firm's spokesperson said.
IL further notes that nickel ore has continued to flow into the EU from Russia — mostly through the Harjavalta plant near Finland's west coast — despite the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Nornickel Harjavalta is the largest nickel refinery in the EU, IL adds, and produces a significant portion of the metal required by Europe's steel, battery and defence industries — a situation that the paper says has taken on "absurd proportions".
"Single, frayed thread"
Monday's sports pages do not make good reading for fans of Finnish football, as the Eagle Owls' dream of qualifying for a men's World Cup finals for the first time ever now lies in tatters.
Finland suffered a bruising 4-0 defeat in Amsterdam at the hands of table-toppers the Netherlands, before Poland ran out 2-0 winners against Lithuania in the group's other game.
This combination of results leaves Finland's hopes of qualifying for the finals hanging by a "single, frayed thread", Helsingin Sanomat writes.
The paper goes on to give an example of just how "absurd the results would need to be for Finland to secure a playoff spot", which would hinge on Poland losing to Malta, ranked 166th in the world.
But perhaps the mood is best summed up by Finland's 23-year-old centre half Ville Koski, who spoke to HS after the defeat by the Dutch.
"It feels like shit," Koski said.
Wrap up warm
The autumn holiday, or syysloma in Finnish, begins on Monday — leading many regional newspapers to report on the weather outlook for the week ahead.
Jyväskylä-based Keskisuomalainen tells its readers to prepare for a cloudy and chilly start to the holiday, with temperatures hovering around 5 degrees Celsius.
Strong winds and scattered rain showers are also expected across the country, according to Heikki Sinisalo of the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
There will be a brief respite from the wind and rain on Wednesday, Sinisalo added, as temperatures climb to about 10 degrees Celsius, before the mercury drops again towards the end of the week as a cold front moves in from the north.
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