Seven Finns banned from Estonia
Some Finns took part in Hitler’s birthday celebration in Tallinn
A total of seven Finns have been banned from entering Estonia on suspicion of association with “extremist and racist movements”, Estonian Ministry of the Interior representative Katrin Vides revealed on Tuesday.
A ban on entry has been imposed on two more Finns because of their criminal backgrounds.
The Estonian daily Postimees reported on Tuesday about three Finns, who were banned from entering Estonia at the beginning of the year for a ten-year period because of alleged neo-Nazi connections.
The men have denied the allegations and have appealed against the decision.
According to the Tallinn-based Finnish police liaison officer, embassy counsellor Ari Lahtela, the number of imposed bans on entry is not significant considering the vast number of Finns travelling to Estonia each year.
“It also does not compare to the number of Estonians who have been banned from entering Finland”, Lahtela continues.
The recently-published Estonian Security Police annual report establishes that last year “skinheads” aspired to create an umbrella organisation in Estonia. International contacts were established, and the skinhead ideology was spread at so-called private parties.
The three Finns who have appealed against the entry-ban took part in one such gathering, which was a fancy dress party organised on the anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s birthday in Tallinn last year.
“Around 25 individuals were present, 15 of whom could be identified from a photograph”, the organiser of the party, Risto Teinonen, 47, says.
Teinonen, who is of Finnish origin, received Estonian citizenship in 2002 for services rendered to the government. Lately the Estonian Security Police has been keeping a keen eye on Teinonen’s doings.
In Estonia, Teinonen is involved in the “New Europe” association.
The organisation has reprinted the books Hitler the Liberator and Hitler and Children from the German occupation period. The latter of the two has also been published in Finnish, German, and English.
According to Teinonen, the books were reissued merely as samples of the German propaganda of the period for those interested in history.
In conjunction with the recent disturbances in Tallinn, politician Dimitri Klenski, who utilised the opportunity to get visibility in the streets, used the same books to demonstrate to the foreign media that there is fascism in modern Estonia.