Finland Times

 

Screenshot of the Russian government daily newspaper Rossijskaja Gazeta on Tuesday mocked the Finnish Defence Minister Carl Haglund following the news about the search underwater object in Finnish waters.Photo – Lehtikuva.

Minister of Defence Carl Haglund termed the way a Russian government newspaper covered the search for an underwater object in Finland and the comments he is said to have made unfortunate.

 

“It is very important to know that I did not and neither did anyone from the Navy, the Defence Forces or the government leadership speculated or took a position on what could the possible origin of the underwater activity be,” Haglund told news agency STT.

 

Haglund, however, emphasised that the comments came from a Russian medium and was not a reaction from Russia, although the comments appeared in a government newspaper.

 

The minister dismissed the notion that the report could be related to the publication of an op-ed text on deepened defence collaboration between Nordic countries in the wake of Russian activities.

 

“In my opinion this is not in any way related to the article, because the issue is not related in any way. This incident, however, pictures how the Russian media work nowadays. I find this very sad, considering that a deliberate pointing at any direction has not been avoided in this (matter),” said Haglund.

 

A Russian government daily, Rossijskaja Gazeta, on Tuesday mocked Haglund following the news about the search for underwater object in Finnish waters.

 

The news headline read “The Finnish Defence Minister detected a Russian submarine near Helsinki. The newspaper also misspelled the minister’s name as “Haglung”.

 

The paper ran the news about detection of an unidentified underwater object and said Finnish Navy Head of Operations Olavi Jantunen did not want to speculate about the nature of the object.

 

“However, the Finnish Defence Minister rushed to inform that possibly it was a Russian submarine along the coast of Helsinki. The minister did not provide any kind of proof,” said the report.

 

The paper claims that Haglund has in the past directed unfounded accusations to Russia which are not supported by facts.

 

The paper referred to Haglund as “scandalous minister” who will leave his post as the leadership change hands after the elections.

 

“Political analysts say that before departing this official has decided to step up anti Russian rhetoric,” added the report.

 

The newspaper, however, does not mention where did Haglund made the comment that it was possibly a Russian submarine.