– I believe that they pose a danger to society. What has happened since the Russian attack on Ukraine in February shows that I was right. By them, Jessikka Aro means a small circle of right-wing activists in Finland, with close ties to Russia and the regime of President Vladimir Putin. news speaks on the phone with Aro, who is at home in Finland due to severe flu. Actually, she was supposed to be in Norway to present her book “Putin’s Troll”, which these days is published in Norwegian. HARD WEATHER: Journalist Jessikka Aro has for many years been a target for far-right, pro-Russian groups in Finland. Photo: Nelli Kivinen Revealed the “Troll Factory” Journalist and author Jessikka Aro has been on the front line in the fight against what she calls “Russia’s information war against the democratic world”. He was among those who exposed what has become known as the “Troll Factory”, officially called the Internet Research Agency, in St. Petersburg. This institution has been central in the attempts to manipulate and influence via the internet all over the world. Here, hundreds of Russians have worked to comment and spread information online, often under fictitious usernames. “TROLL FACTORY”: The Internet Reseach Agency in St. Petersburg is often called the world’s largest troll factory. Photo: Dmitri Lovetsky / AP Now the man behind the factory, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has admitted that it is he who is behind the “Troll Factory”. He has also acknowledged that in 2016 they tried to influence the US presidential election. Because of her work as a journalist, Jessikka Aro has been exposed to an extensive smear campaign on the internet, led by the far-right and strongly pro-Russia Finnish activist Johan Bäckman. CLOSE RELATIONSHIP: Yevgeny Prigozhin has had a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: Alexei Druzhinin / AP Witch hunt and rumors Many of the attacks were published on the website MV-Lehti, which appeared in 2014, at the same time as Russia began to interfere in the situation in Ukraine. Among other things, MV-Lehti published an article about Aro on 24 February 2016. There they wrote that in 2002 the journalist had received a sentence of 300 euros for drug abuse, and that she was a convicted drug dealer. The last one was wrong. Aro says today that she is proud that she got out of drug addiction. She was therefore shocked that rumors that she was a drug dealer were suddenly spread on social media. One of the central people behind MV-Lehti and the attacks on Jessikka Aro has been Johan Bäckman. For many years, he has distinguished himself as a spokesperson for Russian interests, and caused a stir when he accused the Finnish authorities of abuse in connection with child welfare cases involving Russian mothers. MV-Lehti often publishes material from the Russian-owned media platform Russia Today, RT, and boasts that they write about topics that what they call “the media of power” avoid. DEFENDING RUSSIA: Johan Bäckman has for many years defended Russian interests in Finland. Photo: Jarno Kuusinen/AP Bäckman and MV-Lehti In the end it was too much for Jessikka Aro, who for many years worked as a journalist in the Finnish state broadcaster YLE. In 2017, she chose to leave Finland for a period. Johan Bäckman and two other people were sentenced to pay 80,000 euros, or 800,000 Norwegian kroner, to Aro in compensation for defamation and harassment. Bäckman appealed the sentence, and the sentence was later reduced somewhat, even though the Finnish Supreme Court also ruled in 2022 that Aro is exposed to what can be called persecution. news has been in contact with Johan Bäckman. He writes that he believes that the sentence against him is political, and denies that he has persecuted anyone. He believes he has only conducted a normal debate on social media. Bäckman claims that the entire court process was politically motivated and aimed to blackmail NATO opponents in Finland. Connections to the far right? In her book, Jessikka Aro writes about the environment around Johan Bäckman and MV-Lehti, which she believes has ramifications to the right-wing radical and neo-Nazi environment in the rest of the Nordic region. Aro says that Bäckman has close ties to the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, RISS. It is headed by a retired general from the Russian security service FSB, Leonid Reshetnikov. – Much of the information that is disseminated, including in Finland from Johan Bäckman, originates from publications for RISS, says Aro. – We see that Bäckman and his like-minded people are positive about movements such as Soldiers of Odin, a kind of civil defense which we have seen also appear in Norway. There are also clear connections to the Nordic Resistance Movement, according to Jessikka Aro. She believes that what is particularly frightening is that there is thus a direct link from Russia to this environment in the Nordics. Members of the civil defense group Soldiers of Odin in Stavanger in February 2016. Photo: Ingvald Nordmark / news Researcher Tommi Kotonen at the University of Jyväskylä does not believe, however, that there are such strong ties between right-wing radicals in Finland and Russia. – It is about our history, not least what happened during and after the Second World War, says Kotonen to news. He has done a lot of research on the right-wing radical movements in Finland and the Nordic countries, and believes that the situation is different in Sweden. FEW IN FINLAND. Researcher Tommi Kotonen believes that for historical reasons there are few right-wing radicals in Finland who support Russia. Photo: University of Jyväskylä – There is no doubt that some in the Swedish neo-Nazi environment have had a positive relationship with Russia and President Vladimir Putin, says Kotonen. He adds that there are also many who, after the Russian attack on Ukraine on 24 February this year, have left to fight on the Ukrainian side in the war. Editor in Luhansk Today, Janus Putkonen is the editor of MV-Lehti. He edits the newspaper from Luhansk in Ukraine. This area is controlled by Russian-backed separatists and was annexed by Russia on 30 September 2022. MV-LEHTI EDITOR: Janus Putkonen holds up the ballot which shows that in the unfree referendum he voted for Luhansk county to become part of Russia. Photo: Twitter news met Putkonen in 2016. Then he lived in Donetsk, another part of Ukraine which is now annexed by Russia. – I am willing to sacrifice my life here, Putkonen said at the time. Janus Putkonen has worked with the Russian-backed separatists in Donbas since 2015. – Take them seriously – In Finland, Putkonen is seen as a traitor. But with the support of people like Johan Bäckman, they continue to have influence, by running their disinformation and spreading rumors on the internet, says Jessikka Aro. The influence they have can be greater than we think, she believes. – Johan Bäckman has appeared in photos together with Sannfinnene, the right-wing populist Finnish party which received almost 17.5 percent of the vote in the 2019 parliamentary election, emphasizes Aro. – Bäckman suggested at the time that the election had been manipulated. This fits into what we see Russian propaganda has tried to sow news about in many countries: An attempt to create an image of chaos politics. Aro encourages people to take the Russian propaganda seriously, also here in the Nordics. That was not done before Russia’s attack on Ukraine on 24 February this year, the journalist believes.
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The far-right groups’ connections with Russia are dangerous – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
