Karelian Contrasts!: socio-political newspaper. Natural lakes do not like “artificial” fish Existing and should

I was in Karelia during the same years. And if the North Karelian (Ukhta) Republic had won it, it could well have become as independent a European state as.

Of course, the different outcomes of these wars are largely predetermined by socio-historical reasons. Although there are many parallels. Estonia at the beginning of the twentieth century was also predominantly a peasant country, like Karelia. But still there was a significantly larger educated urban population. In Karelia, alas, there were no analogues to the University of Tartu. independent Karelia was located in the village of Ukhta (hence the name of the republic). However, this difference does not at all justify the Bolsheviks, who violated their own Declaration of the Rights of Peoples.

This Declaration was proclaimed by the Bolsheviks immediately after the October Revolution of 1917 and promised all the peoples of the former Russian Empire“the right to free self-determination, up to and including secession and the formation of an independent state.” However, only Finland was able to take full advantage of this promise - it declared independence on December 6, 1917, and was recognized by the Bolshevik government on December 31. But when the northern regions of Karelia put forward a similar demand in 1918, he sent military units to suppress “separatism.” The Bolsheviks thus revived the imperial structure of Russia just six months after their coup.

Today in the National Museum of Karelia in Petrozavodsk there is not a single exhibit dedicated to the Ukhta Republic. Her story is effectively banned. The official historical version is that the word “Karelia” appeared on the political map only in 1920, when the Bolsheviks created the “Karelian Labor Commune” in this territory.

At the head of this geographical education The Kremlin set up the “Red Finns” (Otto Kuusinen, Edward Gylling, etc.), who lost civil war in Finland and were forced to flee to Soviet Russia. However, they did not receive full power in Karelia. British historian Nick Baron, in his book “Power and Space: Autonomous Karelia in the Soviet State, 1920-1939,” reports that since the early 1930s, approximately half of the territory of Karelia was removed from the control of the civil administration and transferred to the jurisdiction of the NKVD. It was on the territory of Karelia that the first camps of the Soviet Gulag appeared - the White Sea Canal, Solovki, etc.

By the way, in 1938, the first leader of Soviet Karelia, Edward Gylling, was convicted and executed. In his book, Nick Baron cites his approval of the construction of the first concentration camps in Karelia in the 1920s. The tragedy of Gülling - as well as that of that entire generation of revolutionaries - was that, having begun to spin the wheel of repression, they themselves naturally fell under it in the end...

The Kremlin built Soviet Karelia as a military springboard for the future Bolshevisation of Finland and the Scandinavian countries. Therefore, no special attention was paid to the development of the Karelian language. In the 1930s they even tried to translate it into Cyrillic - but this experiment failed.

And today Karelia is the only Russian republic where the language of the titular people does not have any official status. For example, if in Tatarstan the official languages are Russian and Tatar languages, in Yakutia - Russian and Yakut, then in Karelia - only Russian.

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This situation is the result of a number of historical, cultural and political reasons. In Soviet-era censuses, many Karelians preferred to be recorded as “Russians” - it was safer, since Karelians and Finns could be accused of “bourgeois nationalism.” In addition, the Karelian language historically consists of two dialects - Livvikovsky (southern) and North Karelian, which differ significantly in grammar and phonetics. Attempts to create a unified Karelian language on their basis were unsuccessful. However, speakers of both dialects fully understand Finnish, which Soviet time actually became a “second language” in Karelia. All street signs in Petrozavodsk were bilingual - Russian and Finnish. True, in last years this bilingualism has practically disappeared. Finnish language in Petrozavodsk you can only hear it at the National Theater of Karelia. Since the early 1990s, when the borders opened, many Karelians and Finns have moved to Finland. And today the titular people make up only 10% of the republic’s population.

Karelian dialects today, in terms of lexical development, have actually remained at the level of village life at the beginning of the twentieth century. They are impossible to teach on. modern sciences in the University. But on the other hand, this archaic nature of the Karelian language gave an interesting creative result. It was Karelia that, since the 1980s, has become one of the centers of folk music in Russia. True, one can note the following paradox: famous Karelian folk groups (Myllärit, Sattuma, Santtu Karhu, etc.) are more popular in Finland than in Russia.

The neighborhood of Karelia with Finland (their border occupies more than 800 km) is traditionally determined high level cross-border cooperation. Residents of Finland have always taken a special interest in the development of ties with Russian Karelia. Can you remember interesting fact- they began connecting residential buildings to the Internet in Petrozavodsk even earlier than in 1997. This was the result of cooperation between Karelian programmers and Finnish universities.

In 1990, like other republics within Russia, Karelia proclaimed the Declaration of Sovereignty. By the way, during the years of “Perestroika” in Karelia there was and was actively operating its own Popular Front- an analogue of similar organizations in.

The declaration of sovereignty of Karelia meant the desire not for the republic to secede from Russia, but for full-fledged federalism, in which the regions have maximum powers. The Karelian Declaration introduced full republican self-government, in which only part of the powers (defense, foreign policy etc.) were delegated to the federal center, and the main economic issues had to be resolved by the republic itself, freely electing its government.

However, this Declaration (as well as similar ones adopted by others Russian republics) did not contain a mechanism for its own implementation. Positioning itself as an integral part of the Russian Federation, the republic was completely dependent on federal laws and the evolution of the Russian political system as a whole.

President Putin in 2004 abolished direct and free elections of heads of regions, including republics. The republics themselves within Russia, from the point of view of self-government, ceased to differ from the regions. In fact, this meant the end of federalism and the transformation of Russia into a unitary state.

In 2000, the Euroregion “Karelia” was created, uniting the Republic of Karelia and three Finnish provinces - North Karelia, Kainuu and Northern Ostrobothnia. This project has been developed since 1998 and in the future provided for the transparency of internal borders, similar to the Euroregions within. However, the implementation of this project on the Russian side was actually suspended in 2002, when Karelia disbanded its own Ministry of Foreign Relations, which developed the Euroregion project and was one of the main subjects of relations in it. The “vertical of power” policy that was launched in Russia at that time provided for the implementation of international contacts only centrally, through the federal one.

In May 2012, a few days before the law on the return of gubernatorial elections came into force, Putin appointed a native of Karelia as head of Karelia. Leningrad region Alexandra Khudilainen. Thus, the residents of Karelia were again not given the opportunity to independently elect the head of their republic.

In the “era of Hudilainen” (from 2012 to the present), Karelia, from the point of view of politics, economics and culture, finally turned into a powerless imperial province. The main government posts in the republic continue to be occupied by the “Varangians” (as the local population calls them) - a team of friends and fellow countrymen of the governor. At the same time, local opposition is being suppressed with unprecedented severity. In 2014, former member of the Federation Council from Karelia Devlet Alikhanov and chairman of the Petrozavodsk City Council Oleg Fokin were arrested. The head of the Karelian branch of the party “” was forced to emigrate to Finland.

Under Khudilainen, Karelia's public debt grew rapidly and reached 21.3 billion rubles (300 million euros) by 2016. Most taxes from the republic go to Moscow. Since 2011, the volume of Karelia’s foreign trade has decreased from 1,499 million dollars to 727. At the same time, Khudilainen blames “foreign intelligence services” for the economic crisis in the republic. It is clear that such an approach is unlikely to stimulate the interest of foreign investors in Karelia.

The appointment of Khudilainen as head of Karelia also turned out to be a cultural paradox. At first, the national public of the republic was happy that Karelia was headed by a “man with a Finnish surname”, and harbored hopes for a cultural revival.

However, everything turned out to be “exactly the opposite” - Khudilainen’s rule resulted in an unprecedented suppression of republican cultural specifics. In 2013, the Faculty of Baltic-Finnish Philology and Culture was closed at Petrozavodsk University, which was the only one in Russian universities, Karelian is also closed pedagogical academy. The publication of the magazine “Carelia”, also the only Finnish-language literary magazine in Russia, has been practically suspended. In 2015, the youth cultural and educational organization “Nuori” (“Young Karelia”) was recognized as a “foreign agent” for the grant it received to support indigenous cultures.

In his authoritarian and repressive leadership style, Khudilainen is reminiscent of the “Red Finn” Otto Kuusinen, who ruled Karelia under Stalin. The Karelian opposition today is fighting to ensure that the head of the republic is elected by citizens. Despite the fact that Khudilainen took last place in the rating of the effectiveness of Russian governors in May 2016, the Kremlin is afraid to remove him from office, since in this case, according to the law, free elections of the head of the republic must be held. And in these elections, Khudilainen and the ruling party in general have minimal electoral chances in Karelia.

Voters in border Karelia are generally more liberal than in Russia as a whole. In the 2013 mayoral elections of Petrozavodsk, independent democratic politician Galina Shirshina won, which became a nationwide sensation at the time. In 2015, Governor Khudilainen, with the help of the Petrozavodsk City Council controlled by him, managed to dismiss her, which caused massive civil protests.

A broad civil movement in Karelia is possible only on the basis of the revival of republican identity. As long as it is suppressed by the official authorities, any demands for regional self-government are condemned as “separatism.” But the inevitable increase in the economic crisis in Russia, caused by the Kremlin’s policies, will contribute to the growth of opposition sentiments in society.

One of the most famous monuments in Tallinn is the Cross of Freedom, dedicated to the victory in the War of Liberation of 1918-1920. Standing under it, I involuntarily remember that my War of Liberation I was in Karelia at the same time. And if the North Karelian (Ukhta) Republic had won it, Karelia could well have become an independent European state like Estonia.

Of course, the different outcomes of these wars are largely predetermined by socio-historical reasons. Although there are many parallels. Estonia at the beginning of the twentieth century was also predominantly a peasant country, like Karelia. But still there was a significantly larger educated urban population. In Karelia, alas, there were no analogues to the University of Tartu. The capital of independent Karelia was located in the village of Ukhta (hence the name of the republic). However, this difference does not at all justify the Bolsheviks, who violated their own Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia.

One of the most famous monuments in Tallinn is the Cross of Freedom, dedicated to the victory in the War of Liberation of 1918-1920. Standing under it, one involuntarily remembers that Karelia had its own War of Liberation in those same years. And if the North Karelian (Ukhta) Republic had won it, Karelia could well have become an independent European state like Estonia. Bolsheviks immediately after the October Revolution of 1917 and promised all peoples of the former Russian Empire “the right to free self-determination, up to and including secession and the formation of an independent state.” However, only Finland was able to take full advantage of this promise - it declared independence on December 6, 1917, and was recognized by the Bolshevik government on December 31. But when the northern regions of Karelia made a similar demand in 1918, the Kremlin sent military units to suppress “separatism.” The Bolsheviks thus revived the imperial structure of Russia just six months after their coup.

Context

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Karelia: how the last opposition mayor was fired

BBC Russian Service 06/21/2015

Finns and lost Karelia

Helsingin Sanomat 08/24/2005 Today in the National Museum of Karelia in Petrozavodsk there is not a single exhibit dedicated to the Ukhta Republic. Her story is effectively banned. The official historical version is that the word “Karelia” appeared on the political map only in 1920, when the Bolsheviks created the “Karelian Labor Commune” in this territory.

At the head of this geographical formation, the Kremlin placed the “Red Finns” (Otto Kuusinen, Edward Gylling, etc.), who lost the civil war in Finland and were forced to flee to Soviet Russia. However, they did not receive full power in Karelia. British historian Nick Baron, in his book “Power and Space: Autonomous Karelia in the Soviet State, 1920-1939,” reports that from the early 1930s, approximately half of the territory of Karelia was removed from the control of the civil administration and transferred to the jurisdiction of the NKVD. It was on the territory of Karelia that the first camps of the Soviet Gulag appeared - the White Sea Canal, Solovki, etc.

And today Karelia is the only Russian republic where the language of the titular people does not have any official status. For example, if in Tatarstan the official languages are Russian and Tatar, in Yakutia - Russian and Yakut, then in Karelia - only Russian.

This situation is the result of a number of historical, cultural and political reasons. In Soviet-era censuses, many Karelians preferred to be recorded as “Russians” - it was safer, since Karelians and Finns could be accused of “bourgeois nationalism.” In addition, the Karelian language historically consists of two dialects - Livvikovsky (southern) and North Karelian, which differ significantly in grammar and phonetics. Attempts to create a unified Karelian language on their basis were unsuccessful. However, speakers of both dialects fully understand the Finnish language, which in Soviet times actually became a “second language” in Karelia. All street signs in Petrozavodsk were bilingual - Russian and Finnish. True, in recent years this bilingualism has practically disappeared. The Finnish language in Petrozavodsk can only be heard at the National Theater of Karelia. Since the early 1990s, when the borders opened, many Karelians and Finns have moved to Finland. And today the titular people make up only 10% of the republic’s population.

Karelian dialects today, in terms of lexical development, have actually remained at the level of village life at the beginning of the twentieth century. It is impossible to teach modern sciences at a university using them. But on the other hand, this archaic nature of the Karelian language gave an interesting creative result. It was Karelia that, since the 1980s, has become one of the centers of folk music in Russia. True, one can note the following paradox: famous Karelian folk groups (Myllärit, Sattuma, Santtu Karhu, etc.) are more popular in Finland than in Russia.

The proximity of Karelia to Finland (their border covers more than 800 km) determines the traditionally high level of cross-border cooperation. Residents of Finland have always taken a special interest in the development of ties with Russian Karelia. You can recall an interesting fact - they started connecting residential buildings to the Internet in Petrozavodsk even earlier than in Moscow, back in 1997. This was the result of cooperation between Karelian programmers and Finnish universities.

In 1990, like other republics within Russia, Karelia proclaimed the Declaration of Sovereignty. By the way, during the years of “Perestroika”, Karelia had its own Popular Front, an analogue of similar organizations in the Baltic countries.

The declaration of sovereignty of Karelia meant the desire not for the republic to secede from Russia, but for full-fledged federalism, in which the regions have maximum powers. The Karelian Declaration introduced full republican self-government, in which only part of the powers (defense, foreign policy, etc.) were delegated to the federal center, and the main economic issues were to be resolved by the republic itself, freely electing its authorities.

However, this Declaration (like similar ones adopted by other Russian republics) did not contain a mechanism for its own implementation. Positioning itself as an integral part of the Russian Federation, the republic was completely dependent on federal laws and the evolution of the Russian political system as a whole.

In 2000, the Euroregion “Karelia” was created, uniting the Republic of Karelia and three Finnish provinces - North Karelia, Kainuu and Northern Ostrobothnia. This project has been developed since 1998 and in the future provided for the transparency of internal borders, similar to the Euroregions within the EU. However, the implementation of this project on the Russian side was actually suspended in 2002, when Karelia disbanded its own Ministry of Foreign Relations, which developed the Euroregion project and was one of the main subjects of relations in it. The “vertical of power” policy launched in Russia at that time provided for the implementation of international contacts only centrally, through the federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In May 2012, a few days before the law on the return of gubernatorial elections came into force, Putin appointed Alexander Khudilainen, a native of the Leningrad region, as head of Karelia. Thus, the residents of Karelia were again not given the opportunity to independently elect the head of their republic.

Under Khudilainen, Karelia's public debt grew rapidly and reached 21.3 billion rubles (300 million euros) by 2016. Most taxes from the republic go to Moscow. Since 2011, the volume of Karelia’s foreign trade has decreased from $1,499 million to $727. At the same time, Khudilainen blames “foreign intelligence services” for the economic crisis in the republic. It is clear that such an approach is unlikely to stimulate the interest of foreign investors in Karelia.

The appointment of Khudilainen as head of Karelia also turned out to be a cultural paradox. At first, the national public of the republic was happy that Karelia was headed by “a man with a Finnish surname” and harbored hopes for a cultural revival.

However, everything turned out to be “exactly the opposite” - Khudilainen’s rule resulted in an unprecedented suppression of republican cultural specifics. In 2013, the Faculty of Baltic-Finnish Philology and Culture, which was the only one in Russian universities, was closed at Petrozavodsk University, and the Karelian Pedagogical Academy was also closed. The publication of the magazine “Carelia”, also the only Finnish-language literary magazine in Russia, has been practically suspended. In 2015, the youth cultural and educational organization Nuori Karjala (Young Karelia) was recognized as a “foreign agent” for the UN grant it received to support indigenous cultures.

Of course, the different outcomes of these wars are largely predetermined by socio-historical reasons. Although there are many parallels. Estonia at the beginning of the twentieth century was also predominantly a peasant country, like Karelia. But still there was a significantly larger educated urban population. In Karelia, alas, there were no analogues to the University of Tartu. The capital of independent Karelia was located in the village of Ukhta (hence the name of the republic). However, this difference does not at all justify the Bolsheviks, who violated their own Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia.

And today Karelia is the only Russian republic where the language of the titular people does not have any official status. For example, if in Tatarstan the official languages are Russian and Tatar, in Yakutia - Russian and Yakut, then in Karelia - only Russian.

This situation is the result of a number of historical, cultural and political reasons. In Soviet-era censuses, many Karelians preferred to be recorded as “Russians” - it was safer, since Karelians and Finns could be accused of “bourgeois nationalism.” In addition, the Karelian language historically consists of two dialects - Livvikovsky (southern) and North Karelian, which differ significantly in grammar and phonetics. Attempts to create a unified Karelian language on their basis were unsuccessful. However, speakers of both dialects fully understand the Finnish language, which in Soviet times actually became a “second language” in Karelia. All street signs in Petrozavodsk were bilingual - Russian and Finnish. True, in recent years this bilingualism has practically disappeared. The Finnish language in Petrozavodsk can only be heard at the National Theater of Karelia. Since the early 1990s, when the borders opened, many Karelians and Finns have moved to Finland. And today the titular people make up only 10% of the republic’s population.

The declaration of sovereignty of Karelia meant the desire not for the republic to secede from Russia, but for full-fledged federalism, in which the regions have maximum powers. The Karelian Declaration introduced full republican self-government, in which only part of the powers (defense, foreign policy, etc.) were delegated to the federal center, and the main economic issues were to be resolved by the republic itself, freely electing its authorities.

In 2000, the Euroregion “Karelia” was created, uniting the Republic of Karelia and three Finnish provinces - North Karelia, Kainuu and Northern Ostrobothnia. This project has been developed since 1998 and in the future provided for the transparency of internal borders, similar to the Euroregions within the EU. However, the implementation of this project on the Russian side was actually suspended in 2002, when Karelia disbanded its own Ministry of Foreign Relations, which developed the Euroregion project and was one of the main subjects of relations in it. The “vertical of power” policy launched in Russia at that time provided for the implementation of international contacts only centrally, through the federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Under Khudilainen, Karelia's public debt grew rapidly and reached 21.3 billion rubles (300 million euros) by 2016. Most taxes from the republic go to Moscow. Since 2011, the volume of Karelia’s foreign trade has decreased from $1,499 million to $727. At the same time, Khudilainen blames “foreign intelligence services” for the economic crisis in the republic. It is clear that such an approach is unlikely to stimulate the interest of foreign investors in Karelia.

However, everything turned out to be “exactly the opposite” - Khudilainen’s rule resulted in an unprecedented suppression of republican cultural specifics. In 2013, the Faculty of Baltic-Finnish Philology and Culture, which was the only one in Russian universities, was closed at Petrozavodsk University, and the Karelian Pedagogical Academy was also closed. The publication of the magazine “Carelia”, also the only Finnish-language literary magazine in Russia, has been practically suspended. In 2015, the youth cultural and educational organization Nuori Karjala (Young Karelia) was recognized as a “foreign agent” for the UN grant it received to support indigenous cultures.

In his authoritarian and repressive leadership style, Khudilainen is reminiscent of the “Red Finn” Otto Kuusinen, who ruled Karelia under Stalin. The Karelian opposition today is fighting to ensure that the head of the republic is elected by citizens. Despite the fact that Khudilainen took last place in the rating of the effectiveness of Russian governors in May 2016, the Kremlin is afraid to remove him from office, since in this case, according to the law, free elections of the head of the republic must be held. And in these elections, Khudilainen and the ruling United Russia party in general have minimal electoral chances in Karelia.

Colossal resource base and low level its development. Wide transit opportunities and insufficient use of them. Large gas production and gas processing projects and an average gasification level of 10%. We are talking about Karelia. These and other problems were discussed at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation in Moscow at a forum presenting the investment potential of the republic.

What is there in the Karelian depths! These are bauxites, non-ferrous metal ores, iron ore, phosphorites, healing mineral water peat. There are also rich reserves of hydroelectric power and timber.

The pulp, paper and iron ore industries of the region, created during the Soviet period, still remain the locomotives of the socio-economic development of the republic. But the area of industrial development is still mostly in the plans.

In terms of resources, Karelia can provide hydropower to its own needs and to many neighboring regions, but only recently two new medium-power hydroelectric power stations were built (after an almost 40-year break). “In mid-October,” the head of the republic, Alexander Khudilainen, told the author, “the construction of hydroelectric power stations (“Beloporozhsky cascade”) began in the central region of Karelia. The BRICS Bank and Chinese investors are participating in the financing of this project. These hydroelectric power stations are capable of almost completely providing Karelia with cheap electricity. Further development of the region’s hydropower potential, along with the development of geological exploration, transit infrastructure, timber processing and the resort and tourism sector, are among the priority economic areas in the republic.”

Let us recall that back in the early 1950s, a program was developed for the large-scale development of hydropower and non-ferrous metallurgy in Karelia, as well as a railway network with new connections to neighboring Finland. Moreover, in the mid-1940s - early 1950s there was a project to connect the White Sea-Baltic Canal and, therefore, the Volga-Baltic water transport system via inland waterways Suomi to its North Baltic port of Oulu near the Finnish-Swedish border. But these projects were mothballed after 1953.

The republic at that time was the Karelo-Finnish SSR (KFSSR), and the increasingly active economic development Finland in the 1950s - 1960s. demanded, let's say, a nationally adequate response from the Soviet side. At the same time, in the republic the share of Karelians themselves and related ethnic groups in the total population of the region did not exceed and today does not exceed 30% against 60-65% of the Russian population.

The Karelo-Finnish SSR existed from March 31, 1940 to July 16, 1956. It then became the ASSR within the RSFSR, but after the Great Patriotic War, the first large foreign investments in the economy of the USSR in the early and mid-1950s were primarily Finnish , as well as Swedish.

By the way, Finnish investments still account for almost 60% of foreign investments. This trend, which began back in the 1950s, could not but strengthen Finland's comprehensive presence in Karelia.

The rapprochement was also facilitated by the ethno-cultural kinship of the Finns and the Karelians. Then central authorities decided to lower the administrative and legal status of Karelia. In Finland and Scandinavia they understood why this was done. But when, on the initiative of Sweden, a regional customs and economic Northern Council was created at the beginning of 1952 (consisting of all the countries of Northern Europe), the Scandinavians invited the USSR to be an associated participant in this association, and with associated participation in it on behalf of the USSR - the Karelo-Finnish Republic .

The USSR and Stalin personally supported the creation of the Northern Council. But the Khrushchev leadership decided the issue differently, lowering the status of Karelia. Since then, its economic development has been limited to the aluminum, pulp and paper industries, iron ore mining (at least half of its production was and is being exported), local construction raw materials and the resort and medical sector. By the way, it was in Karelia, not far from Lake Onega, back in early XVIII century, Peter I founded the first mineral water resort in Russia (“Marcial Waters”). But until recently, this area in the republic developed slowly, fragmentarily or, as modern experts say, unsystematically.

Major projects in the tourism and medical sectors, covering most of the region's territory, were presented at the forum. Some projects are already being implemented in the southern and eastern regions Karelia with the participation of Finnish investors. There is also the aluminum industry - one of the oldest in the republic, first of all, the Nadvoitsky aluminum smelter, one of the largest in Northern Europe in the 1970s - mid-1980s. But the well-known problems of the subsequent period in the country led to a serious decline in production in the early 2000s. But within the framework of the Russian import substitution program, qualitative changes have recently begun. As A. Khudilainen clarified to the author, “in September 2016, the government of the Russian Federation decided to create a territory of advanced socio-economic development in Nadvoitsy. This will significantly change the socio-economic climate in the region for the better, especially since the Nadvoitssky plant will launch the production of modern aluminum products that are in demand in Karelia, other regions of the country and abroad.”

The head of the republic also noted that in the medium term it is planned to complete the reconstruction of the international airport in Petrozavodsk, reconstruct checkpoints across the border with Finland, and bring roads, especially in the central and northern regions of Karelia, in accordance with modern requirements. And in the energy sector, “in particular, more active development of the energy potential of small rivers and the use of local fuels, especially wood pellets, are planned. In addition, “large-scale work on gasification of the republic is planned; this work is already very active in the south of Karelia.”

As noted, the level of gasification in Karelia barely reaches 10%, while Finland has had 100% gasification with Soviet (Russian) gas since the mid-1970s.

Near Karelia, i.e. On the Leningrad shores of the Gulf of Finland, large gas processing plants are being created near Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. And by 2019, it is planned to build a medium-capacity gas liquefaction plant in Petrozavodsk, which will accelerate the gasification of the republic.

The transit advantages of the region were especially noted at the forum. According to the head of Karelia, its most important land and water arteries connect the industrial regions of Russia with the Murmansk port and the Northern Sea Route. These communication advantages “can be more widely used for interregional ties in the country and for its foreign trade.”

A. Khudilainen also told the author: “Back in 1913, a trial transportation was organized along railway from Petrozavodsk to the border part of eastern Finland - to the city of Joensuu. For various reasons, this project was not implemented, but due to the more active economic ties of the republic with Suomi and the importance for the Scandinavians, especially for the Finnish side, of transit through Karelia, the same project, as well as plans for the development of transportation along the White Sea-Baltic Canal, are of growing interest among both sides. This situation is also typical for projects of railway communication between northern and central Karelia with neighboring regions of Finland and its Baltic ports. Moreover, many of these projects were also developed a long time ago” (in the 1960s - 1970s).

In recent years, the fishing industry has been actively developing in the region based on the richest reserves of salmon, whitefish and other types of fish raw materials. In particular, red trout caviar in Karelia is produced on the basis of highly effective environmental technologies, and these products are known not only in Russia. “In the republic,” notes its head, “there are good prospects for the development of the fishery complex, including projects for the development of biological resources of the White Sea.”

In the last two or three years, a variety of Karelian berries, mushrooms (frozen, chilled), honey, and medicinal herbs have been sold in Moscow and other megacities of the country. According to expert calculations, the production of these products will at least double by 2020 due to the commissioning of new capacities and farms. But for now, the Russian Federation imports many thousands of tons of lingonberries, blueberries, blueberries, blackberries from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and not only from there.

The region also has significant scientific and educational potential. For example, the IT park of Petrozavodsk State University, as A. Khudilainen emphasized, “without exaggeration, one of the best intellectual incubators in the world. And it is not surprising that his cooperation with scientific centers both in Russia and abroad.” The head of Karelia stated at the forum that in terms of the pace of economic, especially industrial development, the republic is ahead of many subjects of the Federation.

Let us note in this regard that many national autonomies of Russia receive more state budgetary funds than other regions of the country. In addition, they have much lower levels of government and commercial debt.

The point, first of all, is that the development of most national autotomies has been a priority since Soviet period. For the rest, as a rule, the residual principle was used.

This trend continued in 2016. Thus, the leading subjects of the Federation in terms of approved state subsidies to equalize local budgetary security (i.e., in terms of the level of replenishment of missing budget revenues) were Dagestan (46.7 billion rubles), Yakutia (over 43 billion rubles), Kamchatka (37. 5 billion rubles), Crimea (22.3 billion rubles) and Chechnya (22.2 billion rubles). The Russian regions of the North-West of the Russian Federation are closer to the end of this list, Karelia is slightly higher.

As for the state debt of the regions, in 2015 this figure for Karelia was about 19.1 billion rubles, and for the Murmansk region it was 20.3 billion rubles, for the Vologda region - almost 35 billion rubles; Arkhangelsk - about 33 billion rubles. And if, for example, in Karelia it is planned to create new fish processing facilities, then in the neighboring Murmansk region the Murmansk fish processing plant, one of the largest in the former Union, is on the verge of bankruptcy, because domestic suppliers sell raw materials, as before, at higher prices than foreign, the same Norwegian and Icelandic. But the latter are included in retaliatory food sanctions by the Russian Federation, so their supplies have fallen sharply (they are re-exported through non-sanctioned Greenland and the Faroe Islands, autonomous from Denmark). Plus, tariffs for transporting fish products (raw materials and finished products) from the Murmansk region, which is remote from the vast majority of other regions of the Russian Federation, remain high.

In comparison with Karelia, in the Murmansk, Vologda, and Arkhangelsk regions the situation in the agro-industrial complex is worse. In addition, if we take the level of provision of Karelia with high-quality roads and their length as 100%, then, according to expert calculations in 2016, in the Murmansk, Vologda and Arkhangelsk regions this figure is 65-75%. The level of gasification of the territory in all these regions is not equally high.

In Finland they remember that a number of territories in northwestern Russia belonged to it in 1919-1940, then from August 1941 until the end of 1944.

We have already noted that Finnish investments dominate foreign investment in Karelia, while the Finns do not seem to give up hopes for the return of the supposedly “original Finnish territories” - the Vyborg region, part of western Karelia and the Arctic port of Pechenga (formerly Petsamo).

These plans, as noted by Karelian and Finnish media, are indirectly implemented through the purchase, including by shell companies or individuals, of land and a number of other real estate properties in the former “Finnish” regions.

Population surveys in Finland that have become more frequent since 2010 show that up to 40% of respondents are in favor of the return of these territories. Among the supporters of revenge are well-known politicians, for example, former head of parliament Riita Uosukainen and former foreign minister Pertti Salolainen. By the way, the latter “predicted” that by 2022 Russia will disintegrate and the “territorial issue” will be resolved...

Thus, the situation in the Karelian region is influenced by a complex of factors, among which external factors must also be taken into account.

The weather forecast is presented by the "Multifunctional Real Estate Center", which in Petrozavodsk.

Karelian weather is changeable, like a windy girl. Last week, the State Traffic Inspectorate warned motorists that due to the cold weather they urgently need to change their summer tires to winter ones. Today, the traffic police advise drivers to be attentive and careful on the roads due to sudden warming, especially during rain and at night.

In the next three days, the republic will be under the influence of the southeastern, southern periphery of the Atlantic cyclone,

Leading weather forecaster of the Karelian Hydrometeorological Center Elena Ishkina told the portal “Petrozavodsk Speaks”.

According to her, it will still be cool tonight - from November 3 to 4. Temperatures are expected to range from 0 to -5 degrees. In the afternoon, on Saturday, November 4, the thermometer will rise to +4 degrees. Wet snow turning to rain is expected in places. The wind will be moderate southwest - 4-6 m/s.

On Sunday and Monday - November 5-6 - it will become even warmer. The temperature at night will be from +3 to -1, and during the day from +1 to +6 degrees. Precipitation in the form of rain is possible only in places.

If we talk about the weather in Petrozavodsk, then according to forecasting organizations, in the next two days it will also be quite warm for this time of year.

On Saturday, November 4: air temperature from +1 to +4 degrees, southwest wind 4-5 m/s, cloudy, light rain.

On Sunday, November 5: air temperature from +3 to +5 degrees, southwest wind 4-5 m/s, cloudy, light rain.

In the following days, according to the Hydrometeorological Center of the Russian Federation, there will be no significant weather change in the Karelian capital. It will be warm, cloudy and rainy for this time of year.

This is also evidenced by data from Roshydromet. In the next ten days - from November 3 to 12 - the average air temperature will be 1-2 degrees above the long-term average values (see graph):

The average air temperature these days will be from 0 to +1 degrees (see chart):

Unfortunately, warmth will not come to Karelia for long. According to the director of the Hydrometeorological Center of the Russian Federation, Roman Vilfand, north of Moscow, November will generally be a cool month, writes TASS.

We predict that temperatures will be around or slightly below normal north of Moscow. These are the northern regions of the Central Federal District and in the Northwestern District - in Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, Leningrad, Pskov, Novgorod regions, Karelia,

The meteorologist said.

The amount of precipitation in November in the European territory of the country is predicted to be around normal, “even with some deficit west of Moscow.”

But, like October, like previous months and seasons, we predict that November will also be uneven,

Vilfand said.

Let us remind you that last October Russians experienced all the variability autumn weather, says the analysis of the Hydrometeorological Center of the Russian Federation. Thus, in the first ten days of the month, almost throughout the entire country, temperature conditions turned out to be below normal. Everything changed with the beginning of the second decade. On European territory warmth poured out. In the third decade the cold came again. In the northwest, average temperatures were about 2 degrees below normal. Such unstable weather led to the fact that on average for the month, heat and cold approximately compensated for each other, and the average monthly temperature in most of Russia turned out to be close to normal.

Read a more detailed forecast for the next week in Karelia on Tuesday, November 7. Also keep an eye on our daily forecasts, which are released daily at 7.10 and 16.30.

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