How much economic cooperation is (was) there between Finland and the five Finno-Ugric republics? Do you learn about Komi, Udmurtia, Mari El and Mordovia in school or just Karelia? Do you personally feel solidarity with them, like how you did with the Estonians under the USSR? Or are you just ambivalent, like you are towards the Sami? I know that Hungary has taken steps to strengthen ties with them, and the Turks of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Central Asian countries have a strong bond with Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Sakha and other Turkic republics.

Edit: I found this website of the World Congress of Finno-Ugric peoples based in Estonia, and they have written about the stance of the Finno-Ugric organisations in Russia. It seems that most of them have signed statements in support of Russia’s “special military operation” and there are few dissenters, with Komi being a minor exception. It’s hard to know exactly whether they actually mean this, or are lying to protect themselves as minorities under oppressive regimes (like Jews in Iran who must hate Israel to survive) https://fennougria.ee/prozese-ulevaade-soda-ukrainas-ja-soome-ugri-rahvad/

by trym982

17 comments

  1. honestly? i don’t think the average finn cares, or even knows about their existence – if i went to visit my relatives tomorrow and asked “do you know who udmurts are”, i don’t think they’d know

  2. They’re Russians. I pity them, as much as I do any Russian, and blame them for the brutal mass murder of innocent Ukrainians, as much as I do any Russian. I sympathize with how hard it is to stand up for your values in Russia but really, that excuse stopped being viable when they started torturing Ukrainians for fun.

    I do not consider Russians to be our brothers, and certainly not to be our brothers the same way Estonians are. This is not dependent on the language the specific Russian speaks.

    I hold hope, but zero expectation, that one day we will all see a more peaceful future.

  5. We know they exist, but that’s about it. Some are very far away and culturally pretty far removed. Fenno-Ugrics also fared badly in Soviet Union. Sami though we are anything but ambivalent about. They have their own schools in Helsinki, flag, parliament etc. etc. Sami are very present in Finnish life.

  7. They are almost completely dissolved in Russians and Turks (Tatar, Bashkir) and lost their identity. So nah, they are gone… sad but nothing to cry about now.

  9. Honestly pretty amazing to read these comments. Just shows how bad the level of people’s general knowledge has become.

    It’s true that the connection is very tenuous nowadays, but as I have always had an interest in the history, linguistics and the background of Finnic peoples, of course I feel for them. Back in history they were actually a significant presence throughout northern Russia, but the Slavs were more militarily inclined I suppose. So Finns and Estonians are the only ones left in their own countries, unfortunately.

    To accuse them of what the Russians are doing… Jesus. Shame on you, a lot of the commenters here.

  10. This comment section makes me sad. We really should raise much more awareness in Finland about finno-ugric peoples in Russia. Unlike people here say, they are not lost and gone yet. There are still several million people in Russia who speak Finno-ugric languages. There are activists who fight for their right for their own language and culture. I’m not saying things don’t look bad because they really do but that doesn’t mean there’s no hope.

    Also there a lot of common culture between Finns and other uralics when it comes to folkore, customs and a kind of a sense of mind. People in Finland just don’t know it because the majority of population here is almost completly ignorant about our opressed kin in the east.

    We here in Finland should help other finno-ugrics in their struggle for their language and culture and not just be ignorant and give up.

  13. I do care, and I am sad about the general apathy towards these imprisoned nations inside Russia. They essentially are the victims of the same oppression Finland had faced before independence, and an example of how Finland would be now without an independence movement, and strong national identity back then. It makes me sad how many people here take this entire country for granted, while being unknowledgeable about the struggle for independence and a unified nation.

  14. Not many are aware of them. I do feel a lot of kinship towards our Fenno-ugric brethren.

  15. Do Finns care about their finno ugric brothers in Hungary?

  16. I’m a (very passive) member of the Ugro-Finnic society and albeit it’s a very nerdy linguistic thing, at the talks there’s virtually no one else except 30 people, 25 of which are uni teachers.

    I’d argue that it would have been a much different story if, say, Russia/Soviets hadn’t done quite a good job at destroying the cultural/linguistic substrate of those people, albeit the death of regional languages was a trend in Europe in general. For example, the baltic coast form helsinki to latvia was full of other Finnic languages that are either extinct or pratically so (Livonian,Votic,Veps,Ingrian,Ludic). Had these languages been around longer, I would speculate that it would have been easier for Finnish/Finnic people to find a bit of a broader sense of “family” instead of the petty Finnish/Estonian “rivalry” (especially language-wise).

    Also, the fact that the biggest “cousin” (i.e. Hungary) is trying proactively to deny the common origin (on a political/cultural level, as academician don’t debate the theory) doesn’t help.

  17. What are these constant questions how Finns feel about this or that ethnic group country or what? Ethnic profiling of Finns? Shortly, “Finns” feel many many ways of many many things.

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