Finland’s defense leadership has called for changes to how Finnish citizenship is granted and has floated restrictions on Russians obtaining Finnish passports. The remarks were reported by TASS and situate this stance within a broader push to reassess dual citizenship policies amid concerns about influence from external actors.
Antti Häkkänen argued that the current dual citizenship framework needs a thorough reworking to curb attempts at influence by authoritarian states and to reduce conflicts of interest arising from multiple loyalties. He emphasized that reciprocity should guide any future approach to dual citizenship, signaling a move away from blanket acceptance and toward a system that values equivalent considerations from partner countries as part of the citizenship process.
According to his assessment, the practical outcome would be that Russian nationals would not automatically gain a second Finnish citizenship under the revised rules. The proposal reflects a broader trend of tightening eligibility criteria and aligning citizenship policy with security and foreign policy objectives, particularly in the context of regional stability in northern Europe.
Historically, Finland and Russia had a bilateral agreement intended to promote cross-border cooperation, a pact that has now ended. The agreement was originally signed in 2012, with Moscow and Helsinki agreeing to cooperate on border issues and related matters. The dissolution of the arrangement marks a shift in how bilateral collaboration is framed and managed, with implications for future cross-border movement and administrative processes on both sides of the border.
From late 2023 onward, Finnish authorities began a process of scaling back border checkpoints along the Finnish-Russian frontier. Operational changes included suspending vehicle checks for a period and later reconfiguring the border infrastructure to emphasize essential crossing points. These adjustments reflect Finland’s ongoing emphasis on border control as a component of national security and regional risk management, while still maintaining necessary channels for legitimate cross-border activity.