Copyright yle
Tabloid Iltalehti informs readers on Tuesday morning that Finland granted some 3,697 residence permits to Russian citizens between January and July of this year. That figure includes first residence permits, permanent residence permits as well as extensions, IL writes, with the majority being extensions while about one-fifth of applicants were receiving a visa for the first time. Although the total number of permits may seem high to many at first glance — especially given Russia's ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine — Johannes Hirvelä of the Finnish Immigration Service Migri tells the tabloid that it is in fact a historically low amount. He adds that the immigration authority has ways to ensure that Russians receiving a residence permit, whether their first or an extension, do not pose a threat to Finland's national security. "Of course, the assessment of residence permits is always individual and evidence-based," Hirvelä says. "Authorities must always have other means of assessing security threats than just the nationality marked in a person's passport." Despite this, he says he understands why people might be concerned about who is applying for — and receiving — a Finnish residence permit. "Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine is so extensive. There are a lot of people, for example, in service and at the front, and when they are released from front-line service, it is a risk if that residence permits would be widely granted to them," he says. When culinary cultures collide In one of its most-read articles on Tuesday morning, Helsingin Sanomat writes how it invited itself around to the Espoo home of Jana Boricheva, a Finn, and her French boyfriend, Quentin Beccaria. The couple met and fell in love in Paris, the unofficial food capital of the world, before moving to Finland — and HS has called over to sample their cooking and discuss how the pair overcame the clash of culinary cultures. And some of the differences can be quite stark. "To put it bluntly: we Finns tend to eat lunch in the dim light of the break room. We grab snacks here and there. We eat dinner if we have time, and we munch on an evening snack with the TV blaring," HS writes. Boricheva, who was used to the Finnish way, recalls being shocked to learn that in France, a meal can start at noon and continue until five in the evening. Beccaria, on the other hand, points out that in France, and in other parts of central and southern Europe, eating out during the week is more the rule than the exception in everyday life. When people finish work, they don't go straight home, but out among other people. And even if they do go home to eat, it would be disrespectful to whoever made the food to wolf it down while staring at the TV. "You talk through the day’s events, what’s weighing on your heart, even politics. There might even be an argument at the dinner table. But soon it’s forgotten, and the conversation moves on," HS writes. Which all sounds wonderful, or a nightmare, depending where you are on the introvert-extrovert spectrum — but Beccaria thinks France has some things to learn about food from Finland too. "He sees that it is easier to eat healthily in Finland. The store is full of vegetables and fruits that don't cost a lot, unlike in France. We [Finns] don't put butter and cream on everything, but it still tastes quite good," HS sums up. Yle News' All Points North hears from listeners who moved to Finland for love. Listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena, via Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Nothing lasts forever, even cold November rain As we enter the last few days of October, Ilta-Sanomat looks ahead to what the weather has in store for us all during November — a month with a notorious reputation in Finland for cold, wet misery. Citing data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), IS writes that Finland is in for a warmer November than normal. "The monthly forecast temperature map is almost uniformly orange across Europe, meaning the forecast predicts warmer-than-usual weather, at least in terms of weekly average temperatures," Foreca meteorologist Joanna Rinne explains, adding that in Finland, "temperatures will generally stay close to +5 degrees Celsius, day and night". This means anyone in southern and central parts of the country hoping to see the 'first snow' any time soon will be disappointed, while the ECMWF forecast also predicts overcast November skies for Finland. "In practical terms, this could mean cloudy, gray, and damp weather for much of the time," Rinne says.
