Juhani Mykkänen’s podcast: Sofi Oksanen tells why the Russia speech should not focus on Putin

Author Sofi Oksanen is one of Finland’s best-known Russian debaters over the past 20 years. Still, it seems that his warnings about the legacy of the Soviet Union in today’s Russia have sometimes gone unnoticed by Finns. Juhani Mykkänen asks Oksase in his podcast how it felt to shout into the wind all these years.

“Now I don’t feel that I’ve just shouted into the wind. However, over the past twenty years, books have been constantly published in dozens of different language areas and readers have been found everywhere. So in that sense, someone is interested.”

Oksanen describes in the podcasthow the Russia debate changed after the war of aggression began.

“In 2022, the public use of language in relation to Russia in Finland was freed overnight, and that is a very big positive thing. That if there is a silver lining to be found, then in this matter it is one.”

Yhä Oksa, however, is saddened by the fact that the conversation is personified in the Finns’ speech about Russia Vladimir Putin: let’s talk about Putin’s Russia, while Oksanen thinks we should talk about Russia’s Putin.

“Russia seems to be the only country in the world where the security services have a state, and the state does not have security services. So it’s not about the power structure of an individual person, but an entire system.”

It is in Russia’s interest that the public speech focuses on only one person, says Oksanen.

“False hopes arise that if only Putin died tomorrow, the bad dream would suddenly end and everything would be terribly fine. That’s not how it happens.”

Oksanen emphasizes that Vladimir Putin’s job is to communicate Russian propaganda.

“He is treated as if he is a natural person who shares his own opinions, but he is not. Neither are any of the Russian diplomats,” says Oksanen. “Putin does his job and purposefully and systematically repeats the narrative that serves Russia’s interests.”

Of everything nevertheless, in Oksanen’s opinion, the Finns are significantly better prepared for the Russian threat than many other nations.

“Although Finns may not know enough about Russian history, we know about our own history. The memory of our own wars is still alive.”

Now we should try to understand Russia’s influence efforts better.

“Russia uses a lot of cheap activities, such as inciting hate speech. Russia is interested in all things that in some way create discord.”

Finland has to be careful about this.

“The mental ability to defend the country is an essential thing, and it is certainly strong in Finland, but that does not mean that it is unbreakable.”

To the question about whether Oksase has enough understanding for those Finns who are thinking of moving abroad due to the threat of a possible war, the author answers as follows:

“I quite miss the fact that the first thoughts are where do we go from here. Now we should try to prevent the fact that we don’t have to leave, unless we voluntarily want to.”

Oksanen is afraid that those who can afford it would be the ones who leave, and the end result would be that only those who can’t afford to leave will be left to defend the country.

“It’s pretty sad. It’s morally wrong for me.”

CLICK HERE AND LISTEN TO SOFI OKSASEN’S VISIT ON JUHANI MYKKÄN’S PODCAST