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Johan Bäckman: Less and less people in Europe are falling for anti-Russian propaganda

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Johan Bäckman: Less and less people in Europe are falling for anti-Russian propaganda

30.04.2018

Svetlana Smetanina

A well-known Finnish human rights defender and social activist Johan Bäckman considers fighting against disinformation about Russia spread by the Western media an important part of his job. That is the reason why he is trying to make as many people from the Western countries as possible see what is really happening in Crimea and Donbass.

- You have just come back from the Yalta International Economic Forum. Could you feel that Crimea is isolated from the global community?

- I first went to Crimea back in March 2014 to watch the referendum. I visited Crimea several times afterwards and it’s always been a great pleasure for me. It is very interesting to watch the Peninsula develop. As you know, there are economic restrictions imposed by the Western countries on Crimea. The EU citizens cannot invest into Crimea for this a criminal offence there. So, the Crimean population is being punished for having used their own constitutional rights to vote at the referendum.

Johan Bäckman. Picture: rusplt.ru

Personally, I want to participate in developing Crimea, as I have a lot of acquaintances, friends and colleagues there who I am keeping in touch with on a regular basis. I am going there soon again.

As far as the Western sanctions are concerned, you should keep in mind that the West is not the whole world. They speak of themselves as of the “global community”, but what really is Europe? This is a Peninsula in Eurasia. Apart from the Western countries, there are a lot of other ones. The Yalta Economic Forum, which hosted participants from over 70 countries, proved the fact. We discussed lots of issues there. The key issue today is massive anti-Russian campaign initiated by the Western media and establishment.


«I told him that people in Europe don’t believe in those 'chemical attacks' in Salisbury and Syria. The deputy has answered that in the UK nobody does either. »

By the way, I happened to talk to a British European Parliament deputy at the Forum. I told him that people in Europe don’t believe in those “chemical attacks” in Saulsberry and Syria. The deputy has answered that in the UK nobody does either. However, according to him, the British establishment panics about the Brexit, which is a blow to their world views.

- So, he explains these scandals by their internal problems, doesn’t he?
- Yes, he does. What other explanations can there be? This is absurd. Any sane person understands that if a chemical weapon had been used it would have been catastrophic. Every living creature in the area would have died.

Another issue discussed at the Forum was Russian-Syrian relationships. There was an impressive group of Syria’s representatives headed by the Minister of International Trade. I had personally visited Syria on several occasions and I had even met with Bashar al-Assad. At the Forum there was a separate conference dedicated to restoring Syria’s economics.

An informational war against Syria has been going on for years. There are hardly any journalists in the West today, their job is practically banned. The lies are repeated from dawn until dusk. And it started again before the presidential elections in Russia. They cannot influence result of the elections from inside, so the only thing they can do is initiate such rude external provocations.

- In your opinion, are people really falling less for the fake news about Russia?
- A rather loud scandal has happened in Finland recently. There is a deputy in the Finnish Parliament called Tom Pakalén representing the True Finns party. He gave an interview claiming that he didn’t believe that the Russians had poisoned the Skripals. The most interesting thing about this story is that this deputy had worked as a police detective for over 30 years. So, as an ex-police officer he said that if he were doing the investigation, he would not suspect the Russians. What he was trying to protect by the interview was not Russia, but the reputation of the police. The Skripals’ case seriously jeopardized the reputation of New Scotland Yard that were giving very strange comments about the situation.

The deputy was immediately announced the “Kremlin’s agent”. Though, if you read comments the Europeans post in social media, you will see that almost nobody believes the official version suggested by the British.

- Speaking of Crimea again, in March you arranged a tour for the Finnish tourists there. How did it go?

- It was very interesting and successful. It was the first group of ten people. They were mostly social activists. We held press conferences and round tables for journalists. We are currently considering a possibility of arranging a direct flight from Helsinki to Simferopol. Moreover, a lot of people want to go there. We are going to arrange new trips in June, July and August. If there is a direct flight, dozens of people will be able to go. We have already created a website in the Finnish language about tourism in Crimea. Unfortunately, we cannot open a travel agency due to the sanctions. Now the society of Finnish-Russian friendship is helping the Finns arrange individual tours to Crimea. Many people want to go there.


«Our media keep saying one thing “Russia’s occupation of Crimea.” Even when we were already in Crimea, some Finns asked us in the social media if there were fights on the Peninsula. »

The main PR person here is Ukrainian Ambassador to Finland, who is constantly requiring to ban trips to Crimea. This was a very good advertisement for us, because the Finns got offended that another country’s ambassador is trying to prohibit us to go somewhere. Therefore, we are really grateful to the Ambassador for promoting the Finnish population’s interest to Crimea.

- It was their first time in Crimea. What was their impression?

- Very positive. They saw the life in Crimea with their own eyes and after they came back they posted their opinion on Facebook. They said there was no such thing as the Russia’s occupation and the people had wanted to be a part of Russia. This also influences public opinion because this comes straight from the horse’s mouth. Meanwhile our media keep saying one thing “Russia’s occupation of Crimea”. Even when we were already in Crimea some Finns asked us in the social media if there were fights there.

- Did they confuse it with the Second World War?

- Yes, that is exactly what we were saying, the last time there had been fights was in 1944. A girl asked me if there were still dead bodies in the streets. Can you imagine the level of the Western disinformation? This is just horrible. In general, speaking about “occupation of Crimea” is nothing but a lie.

In May an important event is going to take place in Crimea, which is the opening of the Crimean bridge. This is a very symbolic event. Besides, this is the longest bridge in Europe. This is the fact that even the Western media can’t ignore. Neither can they ignore the fact of its opening, though very little is written about it so far.

Johan Bäckman Donetsk People’s Republic. Picture: eurasia.film

- A few years ago Finland held the first place among the countries taking children away from the Russian mothers because of the juvenile justice abuse of power. This situation seems to have improved a bit. Why is this so?

- I think one of the reasons is activity of Russian journalists who spoke a lot about every such case. I am very grateful to them for casting light on this issue. It is thanks to them that the Finnish changed their attitude towards Russian mothers. There is a lot of information in the Russian language in the children’ service, a translator is not needed anymore. Before that, women who found themselves in this situation were not provided with any translator at all. Children’s services behave more decently now. However, some problems still exist and I receive appeals for help from Russian mothers on a regular basis.
The Finnish authorities have started to cooperate with Russia concerning these issues. The Finnish and Russian ombudsmen for children’s issues have met several times and have signed an agreement on protecting the family. Therefore, there are some positive changes.

- Generally speaking, do the Russians in Finland feel any discrimination?

- The first sign of discrimination is absence of any mentioning of Russians in the official documents. There are only “Russian speaking people”. So, it looks like there are no Russians, but only Russian speaking people in Finland. There is no Russian community; there is the Russian-speaking minority. Anybody can be referred to this category. I am a Russian-speaking person myself. That is why human rights defenders protecting the interests of the Russians in Finland are not Russian. When our TV Company started broadcasting news in the Russian language there wasn’t a single Russian journalist. Any other nationality except for the Russians.


«The first sign of discrimination is absence of any mentioning of Russians in the official documents. There are only “Russian speaking people”. So, it looks like there are no Russians, but only Russian speaking people in Finland. There is no Russian community; there is Russian-speaking minority. Anybody can be referred to this category.»

In other words, there seems to be no Russians at all. The Finnish do not want a Russian community to develop. They decided not to recognize the Russians officially. Although there are a lot of Russian immigrants in Finland and lots of children were born in mixed marriages. These children, when they grow up, are trying to hide that fact that they have Russian relations because they are afraid that this may jeopardize their career prospect.

I, on the contrary, recommend them to speak Russian everywhere. However, a lot of people understand Russian in Finland in places like shops, taxis, restaurants. I went to New York not a long time ago and spoke Russian everywhere. I did the same in Israel. People speak Russian all over the world.

- You have also visited Donbass in relation to your human rights defence activity. Are you going there any time soon?

- Yes, I am going there on 11 May to celebrate the Day of Donetsk Peoples’ Republic and on 12 May to celebrate the Day of Lugansk Peoples’ Republic. Ever since the DPR and LPR were created, I have been their strong supporter and have done a lot to help. We opened a representative office of DPR in Finland meaning that we provide consulting sevices to those who want to cooperate with DPR. Our tourists go to Donbass, even in winter. There are a lot of Finns fighting for DPR and LPR. One of them has just published his memoirs of volunteer at the Donbass frontline titled The Last Bullet in the Finnish language.

The Last Bullet book. Picture: ruskline.ru

This book about a war in the heart of Europe caused a heated discussion. We are now thinking about translating it into Russian. We are also planning to send those Finnish journalists to Donbass interested to report about the real unbiased situation there and to make a documentary about Donbass.

We were supported by the Finnish Social Democratic party. And the True Finns political party supports Crimea. They participate in our events and round tables. This is rather brave of Finland, when a member of the governmental party says that they support Donbass.

Curiously enough, there is a conflict between the supporters and opponents of Putin within almost every political and civil organization in Finland. It appears that the Russian president influences politics in other countries. This is due to the fact that the authority of Russia is only growing.

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