[BRIEF NOTE] The End of the Karelian Issue?

[rfmcdonald]

Following up on my March post about how the Russo-Finnish border region of Karelia is becoming an economic and demographic bridge between the Russian Federation and the European Union, the international edition of Helsingin Sanomat has lately carried some articles about Finland's lack of interest in regaining its lost Karelian provinces. Public opinion is increasingly strongly opposed to the idea, the cost of bringing Karelia up to Finnish standards would be enormous, and the question of whether or not the Russians now living in ex-Finnish Karelia should receive Finnish citizenship is controversial.

Anyone still harbouring hopes that the provinces lost in 1940 and again in 1945 might be restored to Finland, in brief, should put them away. The Russo-Finnish state frontiers of 1946 are here to stay.