Finlandization, the controversial policy that explains why Trump and Putin will meet in Helsinki

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Neither Washington nor Moscow, but neither London nor Minsk

The presidents of the United States, Donald Trump, and of Russia, Vladimir Putin, will meet this Monday, July 16 in Helsinki, where they will hold their first meeting with character official since the American president came to the White House.

The summit of the Finnish capital arrives at a complex moment for transatlantic relations due – among others – to Trump's constant criticism of his NATO partners. and the doubts that persist over his controversial attitude towards Moscow

These suspicions are fueled by the denunciations of the supposed interference of Russia in the US elections . 2016, as well as by the well-known evaluations. Positive statements that the US President made of Putin.

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The date of the meeting was announced less than three weeks in advance, which is unusual for this type of meeting, which, according to the experts, explains that in part the choice of Helsinki as a meeting point

"Logistically, it was a good place, close to Moscow and consistent with Trump's route to Europe," says Alpo Rusi, Professor of International Relations and former Finnish diplomat, BBC Mundo

. from the election of Helsinki, there is also significant historical antecedents as well as the legacy of a controversial policy that emerged during the Cold War: Finlandization

From Helsinki to Helsinki

The capital of Finland wins for the first time highlighted as the theater of important international meetings in 1975, while it was the seat of the Conference on Security and co-operation in Europe, in the midst of the East-West confrontation, succeeded in bringing together more than 30 states belonging to both the socialist bloc and the capitalist .

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Helsinki was also the scene of other meetings between the leaders of Russia and the United States.

There in September 1990, President George HW Bush and the latest leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to talk about the invasion of Iraq in Kuwait

Seven years Later, in 1997, he also organized talks between American Bill Clinton and the Russian Boris Yeltsin. from the enlargement of NATO to countries of the former Soviet sphere.

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  "Helsinki was the seat of several high-level meetings between Russia and the United States and these went well. It's an easy meeting place that both countries can accept, knowing that the host country Things will be well organized and will be kept secret ", comments Charly Salonius-Pasternak, researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Relations, in conversation with the BBC Mundo

  Qu & # What made the Finnish capital the meeting place for these two powers was the complex relationship between Helsinki and Moscow, forged towards the end of the Second World War and the first years of the Cold War [19659016] "Finlandization"

  Finland shares a border of more than 1,300 kilometers with Russia, a country whose territory is 50 times larger and whose population is 26 times greater.

  Pendan For centuries, the shadow of Moscow has been projected on this t erritorio Nordic which has invaded several times and which, in fact, has been annexed as than an autonomous dukedom from the beginning of the nineteenth century until 1917.

  At the beginning of the Second World War Around the world, the two countries waged a relatively brief war during which Finland managed to arrest Soviet advances but could not avoid being stripped of part of its territory.

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  According to British historian Geoffrey Roberts, these losses led the Finnish government to ally during the war against Nazi Germany against Moscow. This decision cost him thousands of lives and threatened his life.

  "Between 1944 and 1945, the Red Army could have occupied Finland with impunity, but (Josef) Stalin chose not to do so, mainly because they admitted their mistake and have promised neutrality and friendship to the Soviet Union "wrote Roberts last February in an article in the British newspaper The Guardian

  " The "finlandization" , allowed Finland to remain free from Soviet domination and free it from communism, "he added

  But what exactly was it?

  Salonius-Pasternak explains that after the Second World War and clashes With the former Moscow, the Finns found it necessary to convince the Soviet Union that they did not constitute a threat to this power ("something that they were obviously not," he notes).

  was militarily and foreign neutral, without adhering to NATO but not to the Warsaw Pact, which Moscow wanted to incorporate.

  Helsinki, however, did not escape the constant Soviet surveillance ] that whenever a new coalition of government would be formed in the Nordic country, it would emit signals for indicate whether this was acceptable or not for Moscow.

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  "The logic was: if allows s these small internal interferences, Finland will be able to maintain its independence and concentrate economically towards the West." In Helsinki, it was considered as a set of very pragmatic policies, a game of balances, "explains Salonius-Pasternak

  This willingness to accommodate Soviet preferences in some way in its internal policy has been criticized by Westerners and baptized by German scholars as "Finlandization" to refer to the process. in which a country, to maintain its sovereignty, chooses not to confront a more powerful neighbor. The term had a pejorative character.

  "Finnisation had two sides: one side was realpolitik according to which a small state had to have a policy that was not in conflict with the neighboring superpower explains Rusi, who was foreign policy advisor to President Martti Ahtisaari (1994-1999).

  "On the other hand, was that Finland was under constant pressure from the USSR and not all the political elite was willing to take care of it, so some became collaborators of the Soviet Union, there was a useless acceptance of Russian claims, "he adds.

  This controversial policy ended with culmination

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  The current application and practice of this learning are evident in the relationship that the current President of Finland, Sauli Niinisto, has with Vladimir Putin.

  Since Russia was annexed to Crimea in 2014, President Le Finlandais held bilateral meetings with his Russian counterpart at least five times .

  "He (Niinisto) was reprimanded for being one of the few Western leaders who continued to meet Putin: His logic is this: we do not approve of what happened , we do not agree and we can say it in a frank discussion, but this is only possible if the other party makes you at least trust. "Pasternak

  So, c & d Is this open line between Finland and Russia that makes possible the meeting between Putin and Trump in Helsinki.

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