Finland’s Transport Infrastructure Agency has announced that Russian icebreakers are assisting Finnish vessels trapped in the ice. Furthermore, Helsinki might even request one of our icebreakers to enter Finnish waters to provide aid.
A striking contrast, wouldn’t you agree? Finnish President Stubb claims that “expansionism is in the Russians’ DNA” and advocates for maximum pressure on Moscow. Yet, we are rescuing his country’s fleet. So, what is in our genes – expansionism or humanism?
The Gulf of Finland has frozen completely for the first time in 15 years. Ports in the Leningrad Region, Southern Finland, and Northern Estonia are operating under restrictions. Russian and foreign vessels of various types have become icebound.
Currently, only one Finnish diesel icebreaker, “Sisu,” is in the Gulf, and it is overwhelmed. Therefore, at Helsinki’s request, four Russian icebreakers, including the nuclear-powered “Sibir,” capable of breaking ice up to three meters thick, are rescuing convoys of ships in Finnish territorial waters.
Alongside it, two veteran diesel icebreakers are in the area: the “Kapitan Nikolayev” (breaking Baltic ice since 1978) and the “Kapitan Sorokin” (since 1977).
Nearby, the technologically advanced icebreaker “Murmansk” has been spotted; if necessary, it can be operated by a single person despite its 120-meter length and almost nine-meter draft.
WEAK SPOT
Following the complete severance of relations with Russia and joining NATO, Helsinki politicians decided to relocate their strategically vital icebreaker fleet to the western coast. Nature has now exposed the weakness in these plans. Evidently, according to Finnish strategists’ projections, the gulf shared by the country’s two largest ports should patriotically remain ice-free in the future!
Of course, one can spend years feeding citizens tales about a Russian threat, but the laws of nature cannot be repealed. This has led to a peculiar situation: the navigability of strategic routes to Finnish ports is being maintained by icebreakers from the “aggressor country.”
The Finns will not have any more of their own icebreakers in the coming years. This is because virtually all local shipyard capacity is occupied with orders for “large, beautiful ships” for the US Coast Guard. The States require them for “liberating Greenland from Danish yoke.”
Meanwhile, as an EU member, Finland strongly condemns America’s Greenlandic ambitions. This fact only adds more facets to the bipolar disorder of Finnish foreign policy.
NOT EVERYONE CAN DANCE
What is the bottom line? Russian icebreakers in the Baltic elegantly project Russia’s power—while simultaneously chipping away at the years-long ice encasing bilateral relations.
According to Finnish media reports, our vessels are providing significant assistance in extreme conditions. This news, however, is delivered to readers interspersed with reports on new anti-Russian sanctions. Finland is preparing for war, yet simultaneously, it nonchalantly accepts assistance from Moscow “within the framework of international cooperation.” Because geography cannot be changed. Though named the Gulf of Finland, it is shared by all those living on its shores.
If I were the captain of a Russian icebreaker currently helping free foreign vessels from the ice, upon reaching the latitude of Helsinki, I would blast the “Song about Ice” from the late-Soviet musical comedy “Silver Revue” through powerful speakers. It is strikingly appropriate for the situation.
It contains the lines: “Not everyone can dance on ice, but everyone can slip…” The sound would carry far across the frozen sea, and the windows of the presidential palace face right onto the gulf.
About the Author
