Leningrad, USSR, 5/18/1989Doesn't Disturb Russians Much

(LENINGRAD, USSR, May 18, 1989)

by Bob Van Leer

Today our party met with Finnish government officials in the morning and then boarded a train for a seven-hour trip to Leningrad, Russia. We have now been in Russia for only half a day but much of what we have heard about the country appears to be true.

But first, a report on our briefing on Finland

Finland is faced with a problem that won’t go away and the Finns can do nothing about – Russia. Finland made a separate peace with Russia, ending Finland’s association with Germany in fighting the Russians. As a result of losing two wars in Russia in the 1940’s, Finland lost a considerable amount of territory and some of its rights to independence. The size of Finland’s army and air force is limited by the peace treaty with Russia.

I said to Aarno Karhelo, Foreign Office spokesman, that Finland seems to be able to have any foreign policy it wants as long as it doesn’t disturb the Russians too much. Karhelo replied, “We haven’t wanted to bother the Russians.”

Lief Fagernas, deputy director for external economic affairs, said that foreign trade is a third of the Gross National Product (GNP). Western Europe accounts for 65 percent of this and Eastern Europe, 18 percent. Trade with Russia is by a bilateral agreement. No money changes hands. Goods are exchanged for goods.

Finland gets most of its oil and gas and some coal from Russia. In exchange Finland ships forest products and machinery. Future problems are that oil reserves in Russia will be more difficult to exploit and production can’t increase much. He said of Russian manufactured goods that there is very little that could be competitive in the world market.

Karhelo said the thrust of Finland’s foreign policy is to safeguard independence and national sovereignty and preserve the Finnish way of life. Finland’s policy is strict neutrality. Finland takes part in U.N. peace-keeping activities, providing more troops per capita than any other nation. Finland has universal conscription. Conscripts are paid $6.00 per day. The aim is for a well-equipped force of 250,000 and a total of 600,000 reserves. The regular army is limited to 33,000 men.

Sixten Karkman said Finland has .1 percent of the world’s population and produces .3 percent of total production, making it a rich country. The economy is based on foreign products. Finland has a faster economic growth rate than Western Europe. The government has a surplus and a low debt but has a problem with its balance of payments.

An experienced news writer might make $3000 a month, double the average, but take home close to $2000. The marginal income tax rate for middle income; Finns is 50 percent and goes as high as 64 percent.

Esko Lindstadt, Farmers Union, said a typical farm is 40 acres of arable land and 80 acres of forest. Finland produces a little more than it consumes of farm products but the trend is down.

The number of farms is going down and acreage per farm is up. The average age of farmers is 54, compared to 38 years old for all workers. Two-thirds of farmers are over 50 and only 9 percent are under 35. Farms are mechanized. A family farm will have an income of $45,000 – 55,000.

The government owns large forestry area in the central and northern part of the country. Factory farms are discouraged. Almost half of farmers have income outside the farm; a job in town for the farmer or his wife.

After the meeting with Finnish officials we were taken by bus to the railway terminal for our trip to Leningrad. This is seven hours over flat terrain in southern Finland and Russia. It is early spring here and the fields have just been tilled. Intensive forestry is practiced here. Trees are often planted in rows like corn. There appears to be some commercial thinning and then the final harvest is by clear-cutting and then starting all over. The timber species is a kind of pine. Housing in southern Finland is good. This is not a poor country.

At Vainikkala, Finland, we stopped to change to a Russian locomotive.

Just east of there we crossed the border into Russia. A few yards inside the border there was a cleared strip with a high barbed wire fence on either side of the strip and a Russian soldier on patrol.

Shortly thereafter the train stopped and uniformed customs officers came aboard and checked us but did not search our luggage. They left with our passports and visas and we felt naked without them. Here we are in this strange country without identification. But an hour later the passports were returned minus one of the three sections of the visa. There was a noticeable deterioration of the maintenance of the roadbed now. The train swayed more. The quality of housing also deteriorated.

We finally arrived in Leningrad, formerly St. Petersburg until the Communists took over power. It was the czarist capital from 1712 to 1918. On the bus ride from the depot to the Hotel Moscow, the streets were clean but the buildings looked gray and shabby. At the hotel, scruffy young men approached us and offered black market currency exchange at 7 rubles to the dollar. On the official government exchange a ruble is worth more than a dollar.

The hotel is acceptable, but not up to the quality of U.S. hotels. The lobby looks more like the waiting room at a train station than a hotel lobby.

Dinner in the hotel was adequate but nothing to get excited about. So pervasive are transactions in illegal currency that our waiter informed me quietly that he had a small currency exchange business on the side and changed dollars, giving two rubles for each dollar.

These young men I wouldn’t deal with if they were in Portland, OR.

On each floor of the hotel is a woman at a desk 24 hours a day who gives out keys and keeps track of comings and goings.

Tomorrow will be a full day, starting with a briefing at the Novosti Press Agency, a visit to the U.S. Consulate and a tour of the famous Hermitage Museum.