According to the news service of the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE, four Finnish businessmen have promised to withdraw their mine permit application for a planned ore mine in the Baltic Sea, if Russia agrees to start negotiations on the return of the ceded areas of Karelia to Finland.These businessmen submitted an application to mine the Gulf of Finland before Nord Stream put in their application to run their pipeline to Germany, so they have dibs.
The region in question was ceded to the Soviet Union at the end of the last war, and there are those who feel the land should be back in Finnish hands.
The four businessmen plan to set up an ore mine on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. However, the planned undersea venture would stand in the way of a submarine gas pipeline planned by the German-Russian gaspipe consortium Nord Stream.
According to Kari Silvennoinen, the spokesman of the four businessmen, some representatives of the Russian government have demanded the Finns withdraw their application, offering them considerable sums of money in exchange.
At the Ministry of Employment and the Economy the application is regarded as "bizarre - to say the least".
However, the ministry is unwilling to comment on the content of the application, which has been pending for a year. The ministry has also received inquiries about the matter from the Trade Representation of the Russian Federation in Finland.
The Finnish businessmen do not want to accept money. In exchange for their mine permit application, the Finns want the ceded Karelia to be handed back to Finland.
According to YLE, Nord Stream claimed that the company was not aware of any such bargaining. Nord Stream plans to embark on the gas pipeline construction early next year.
Well, the Russians DID give America Alaska for some beads and a vodka bender ...