Last Friday, Estonia decided to temporarily shut a border with Russia, after “a larger than usual” group Russian military personnel had been observed moving in the area.
According to Estonian public broadcaster ERR, a group of armed Russian personnel was spotted on the road in the Saatse Boot, a section of Russian territory that Estonians are permitted to drive through. On Friday, Estonian Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) temporarily closed access to the area.
Over the weekend, ERR reported that the interior ministry’s latest information suggests they have left the vicinity.
Some experts in Finland have characterised the situation as ‘very exceptional’, according to newspaper Iltalehti.
Finnish MEP — and former defence command intelligence chief — Pekka Toveri (NCP) told the paper that Estonia has had bad experiences with Russia’s adherence to border agreements.
He said it was understandable that Estonians were sensitive and cautious in the matter — so that Russians aren’t given opportunities to cause provocations or take hostages.
“That’s the Russian way,” Toveri said, according to Iltalehti.
If a similar situation were to arrive at Finland’s eastern border, Toveri said the Finnish Defence Forces and Border Guard would be prepared to react.
“If there were clear indications that Russia was increasing the number and activity of its troops near the border, we would raise our own preparedness as necessary to counter any possible actions across the border,” Toveri told the paper.
He said authorities have been preparing for such scenarios for years.
“The most important thing is the situational overview, so that we know what is happening on the other side of the border. If there are unusual movements near the border, we have the capability and readiness to respond to them,” Toveri told Iltalehti.
Finland’s land border crossings with Russia have been closed for nearly two years. Finland began gradually closing all its checkpoints along the eastern border with Russia from October 2023, amid suspicions that Russia was channelling migrants to the crossing points to put pressure on Finnish authorities. The frontier was eventually fully shut later that year.
HS covers Finnair seats
Finnair has been making headlines again this week because of a problem with thousands of seat covers on some of their planes.
The airline cancelled dozens of flights this week because the seat covers were washed with water and some of them shrank, according to Helsingin Sanomat.
It turns out the covers had been washed for years according to the seat frame manufacturer’s (Recaro) instructions — not the instructions from the firm that made them, Tampere-based company SNT-Group.
In addition to shrinkage, the airline has said it was unclear how the incorrect washing may have affected the covers’ mandated fire resistance.
The washing routine problem came to light on Monday during a self-monitoring drill involving the airline and SNT-Group, according to the paper.
Finnair is now scrambling to have roughly 2,000 seat covers replaced, half of which are being made at a quick pace by SNT-Group.
“A few of the covers had shrunk,” Kari Talja, SNT-Group’s deputy CEO, told the paper.
“We began to think something was wrong,” he explained.
After noticing the issue, Finnair immediately contacted Traficom, which regulates the nation’s aviation sector, among other transport industries. Together, they determined that there was a safety issue at hand.
“We came to the conclusion to take the planes out of service. Safety is the most important thing for us,” Finnair’s communications manager Suvi Aaltonen told HS.
The paper asked STN-Group’s Talja whether the seat covers had actually posed a danger to passengers in the past.
He said no.
According to Talja, washing the covers with water had been a tried and tested practice found to be in compliance with regulations — with the exception of one section of one type of cover.
“I know that Traficom and the European Aviation Safety Agency EASA wouldn’t like this, but the problem is completely insignificant. A passenger’s padded jacket is more likely to catch fire on a flight than a seat cover,” Talja said.
The Tampere company said it is able to make about 250 covers a week, and would be done with their part of the job within a few weeks.
Finnair is also trying to source the remaining seat covers from other companies, according to Aaltonen.
However, the airline’s comms manager was unwilling to offer an estimate on when the affected jets would be able to return to service.
On Wednesday, an opinion column about the national airline’s situation by the paper’s Anni Lassila began “when following Finnair news, you don’t know whether to laugh or cry”.
Concentrating on OJ
Turning to a completely different topic, Helsingin Sanomat also pondered the price of orange juice.
The daily noted that OJ prices haven’t decreased in Finnish stores — even though the citrus beverage’s global market prices have declined by as much as 60 percent since the beginning of the year. The paper used a graph to show the market price decline.
HS sought answers about the relatively high price of orange juice from grocery retail giant Kesko.
Kesko’s purchasing and sales chief, Carita Rissanen, suggested the paper may have misunderstood the situation.
She said that prices of a number of brands of the citrus drink on refrigerated store shelves have declined by around 10 percent since July.
According to supermarket and retail cooperative giant S-Group, orange juice sales have plummeted by several dozen percent compared to last year.
The company’s sales manager, Juhani Haari, told the paper that it has slightly lowered its orange juice prices this autumn — by a few percentage points compared to the summer.
However, HS reported that Haari did not comment about what kind of opportunities the retailer may have to further decrease prices. He said its pricing hinges on agreements that the company has made with suppliers, but did not detail how long those deals are in place.
Haari said that its warehouse inventories of orange juice were “not excessive”, adding that its stores strive to operate as efficiently as possible.
Päivi Kujala, a senior economist at the Pellervo Economic Research Institute (PTT), explained that the raw ingredient costs of orange juice make up around 30 percent of its retail price.
She said the retail prices are also affected by varying energy and wage costs, packaging and transportation costs — as well as taxes.
According to a general rule of thumb, the paper explained, changes in global raw material prices are reflected in retail prices within six to nine months. After that, it said, it usually takes another month before consumers see a difference.