Finnish diplomats have revived the naked art of “sauna diplomacy” as Nato allies explore creative ways to evade Russian hackers and spies.
Kai Sauer, the Finnish ambassador to Germany, said the sauna had long been a “safe place” to have sensitive discussions on a level playing field – everyone is quite literally stripped bare.
In an interview with the Telegraph, he said: “It has many features, many dimensions. It can be promoting the sauna itself as a well-being concept. But then it can also be a place, a safe place, where you have confidential discussions or it can be a place where you build relationships.
“You are not even dressed when you are in the sauna. So it’s hard to carry any devices.”
He added: “But I would go deeper than that. When we look at our families, I think the most confidential discussions, more trusted discussions with your father or mother or siblings, friends, have been held in the sauna.”
>*Mr Sauer advised against bringing secret documents to the sauna, not least due to copious amounts of steam.*
Good advice. One could add that Flash drives may short-circuit and corrode in saunas. One could put things into a cloud, but a Finnish sauna is usually very dry or at least has a humidity much less than 100%.
I like the idea that diplomats & politicians should be close together, naked and profusely sweating when negotiating.
But – serious question, sauna diplomacy is not a new concept – can’t a sauna be bugged as well?
Also probably to a degree Finns just looking for an excuse to go to sauna.
This is so interesting.
Definitely stop giving visas to any Russian tho. No student visas, no refugee visas for them. Unless there’s genuine supporting information that they were a vocal Putin critic and their lives are at risk.
This is the mos Finnish thing I have ever read this week.
“I heard that if you’re naked in a sauna and ask a Russian spy to suck your dick they’re under strict orders from Putin to decline.”
“Well, this is a bit unorthodox, Mr. Prime Minister, but I’m definitely not a Russian spy, so…”
This exact thing was done by the Russian military high command in Tom Clancy’s *Red Storm Rising* from 1986.
Worth reading that book today–a lot of what he wrote about Russia is eerily true/happening today, but with slight detail changes and location changes. Good book!
There used to be a KGB microphone in Urho Kekkonen’s sauna in old times
I believe the Russian mafia in the 90s was notorious for trying to evade police infiltration this way.
The Idea that its hard to spy on someone in a sauna is riddiculous. Whats next? They talk backwards because nobody can crack that code?
Sounds like a cheeky justification to see your coworkers naked.
Khrushchev had a huge argument with Molotov after Khrushchev visited sauna with president Kekkonen in the 1950s. Molotov claimed that it was beneath his dignity to be cavorting naked with bourgeois politicians and swim in a bourgeous lake. Khrushchev answered, that it would have been impolite to refuse and Molotov wants to take the country to war (refusing sauna apparently makes Finland declare war)
And Khrushchev hated sauna himself but couldn’t say that to Kekkonen
But you could do a Hans Niemann™ and put a listening device up your
This is a tried and true method as all finns know russians die in a sauna.
I don’t really know how that would help as there were at least a few cases in Russia with cameras in saunas
16 comments
***The Telegraph reports:***
Finnish diplomats have revived the naked art of “sauna diplomacy” as Nato allies explore creative ways to evade Russian hackers and spies.
Kai Sauer, the Finnish ambassador to Germany, said the sauna had long been a “safe place” to have sensitive discussions on a level playing field – everyone is quite literally stripped bare.
In an interview with the Telegraph, he said: “It has many features, many dimensions. It can be promoting the sauna itself as a well-being concept. But then it can also be a place, a safe place, where you have confidential discussions or it can be a place where you build relationships.
“You are not even dressed when you are in the sauna. So it’s hard to carry any devices.”
He added: “But I would go deeper than that. When we look at our families, I think the most confidential discussions, more trusted discussions with your father or mother or siblings, friends, have been held in the sauna.”
***Read more:*** [***https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/03/30/finland-use-sauna-diplomacy-to-evade-russian-spies/***](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/03/30/finland-use-sauna-diplomacy-to-evade-russian-spies/)
>*Mr Sauer advised against bringing secret documents to the sauna, not least due to copious amounts of steam.*
Good advice. One could add that Flash drives may short-circuit and corrode in saunas. One could put things into a cloud, but a Finnish sauna is usually very dry or at least has a humidity much less than 100%.
I like the idea that diplomats & politicians should be close together, naked and profusely sweating when negotiating.
But – serious question, sauna diplomacy is not a new concept – can’t a sauna be bugged as well?
Also probably to a degree Finns just looking for an excuse to go to sauna.
This is so interesting.
Definitely stop giving visas to any Russian tho. No student visas, no refugee visas for them. Unless there’s genuine supporting information that they were a vocal Putin critic and their lives are at risk.
This is the mos Finnish thing I have ever read this week.
“I heard that if you’re naked in a sauna and ask a Russian spy to suck your dick they’re under strict orders from Putin to decline.”
“Well, this is a bit unorthodox, Mr. Prime Minister, but I’m definitely not a Russian spy, so…”
This exact thing was done by the Russian military high command in Tom Clancy’s *Red Storm Rising* from 1986.
Worth reading that book today–a lot of what he wrote about Russia is eerily true/happening today, but with slight detail changes and location changes. Good book!
There used to be a KGB microphone in Urho Kekkonen’s sauna in old times
I believe the Russian mafia in the 90s was notorious for trying to evade police infiltration this way.
The Idea that its hard to spy on someone in a sauna is riddiculous. Whats next? They talk backwards because nobody can crack that code?
Sounds like a cheeky justification to see your coworkers naked.
Khrushchev had a huge argument with Molotov after Khrushchev visited sauna with president Kekkonen in the 1950s. Molotov claimed that it was beneath his dignity to be cavorting naked with bourgeois politicians and swim in a bourgeous lake. Khrushchev answered, that it would have been impolite to refuse and Molotov wants to take the country to war (refusing sauna apparently makes Finland declare war)
And Khrushchev hated sauna himself but couldn’t say that to Kekkonen
But you could do a Hans Niemann™ and put a listening device up your
This is a tried and true method as all finns know russians die in a sauna.
I don’t really know how that would help as there were at least a few cases in Russia with cameras in saunas