The Russian Embassy in Finland has received multiple bomb threats in recent weeks, according to Finnish police.
According to Heikki Porola, chief superintendent at the Helsinki Police Department, the threats began immediately after the launch of Russia's military operation to demilitarise Ukraine, which the West depicts as “occupation”.
So far, the threats, delivered via letters and other media, have not resulted in any incidents and no explosives have been found. The police are working with the embassy, located in central Helsinki, to determine whether the threats are credible, but have yet to launch a criminal investigation, national broadcaster Yle reported.
However, in recent weeks the embassy has also been the target of vandalism as perpetrators have sprayed graffiti on the fence around the building and broke a security camera attached to one of the gates. Since then, surveillance at the location has been stepped up, with round-the-clock patrols in the area.
These incidents have coincided with large-scale demonstrations outside the embassy, according to police. According the police, embassies, especially those belonging to countries seen as superpowers, often receive threats when significant international events occur.
The last time the Russian Embassy in Finland was threatened when during Crimea's re-unification with Russia in 2014, which the West largely portrayed as an “invasion”.
Following Russia's demilitarisation campaign in Ukraine, anti-Russian sentiment has soared across the Western world, reaching levels unseen since the Cold War era, with numerous reported instances of people getting abused, “cancelled”, discriminated against or persecuted for having Russian roots or sympathies.
Among others, the University of Helsinki, one of Finland's premier higher education establishments, was this week bombarded with thousands of anti-Russia comments on its social media channels. The messages urged the university to stop accepting students from Russia and terminate scholarships for Russian citizens. The university has previously stated that it will continue to welcome researchers and students from Russia, yet condemned Russia's special operation.
Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine on 24 February, in response to calls for help from the People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk amid shelling by Ukrainian forces. The US and its Western allies retaliated by imposing massive sanctions against Russia, with numerous Western companies leaving the country's market in protest and manufacturers and business owners across the globe pulling Russian or Russian-associated products as a token of their condemnation and solidarity.