Nord Stream: Not Just a Pipeline

Nord Stream: Not Just a Pipeline 45
material from the Baltic Sea has contained considerable quantities of
heavy metals (Nord Stream 2006b: 55). Ostensibly, the Russian seabed is
the most polluted, and sediments will inevitably be stirred up during the
construction of the pipeline. This had not been a problem for Finland if
the pollutants would then remain in Russian waters, but since the sea
currents enter the Gulf of Finland in the south, turn near Russia and then
leave off the northern coast (Figure 7), much of this toxic mud will be
transported into Finnish waters, which are also shallower than the
Estonian (Liik, Mäe, Juntunen [interviews]).
Figure 7: Gulf of Finland – Sea Currents
Source: Andrejev et al. (2004: 11)
Hence, the ecological argument is undoubtedly an important and strong
one for Helsinki, but since the country is officially supporting the project,
Finnish environmental organisations are worried that their government
will make hastened decisions to accommodate Russia and Germany, and
thereby jeopardise the environment in the Gulf of Finland (Moscow
Times 2008). Jakub Swiecicki (interview) argues that one should not
trivialise the fact that the pressure to build the pipeline comes from
Moscow and Berlin. On the one hand, Finland is dependent on Russia for
much of its energy, and maintaining good relations with the Kremlin is
therefore important. During a meeting between the Finnish Foreign
Minister Alexander Stubb and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the
latter emphasised Russia’s appreciation ‘that Finland is not politicising
the issue, but is demonstrating a purely pragmatic attitude in terms of
environmental safety’ (RIA Novosti 2008c). On the other hand, Swiecicki
argues, one should also keep in mind that the Finns received significant
military support from Germany whilst fighting the Soviet Union during
the Second World War. Although Finns today consider this an alliance of
necessity and do not wish to be linked with Nazi Germany, Head of the
Finnish Institute in Germany, Marjaliisa Hentilä, holds that Finnish
independence would not have been secured without German assistance
(Spiegel 2007e). Consequently, Finland is somewhat susceptible to
pressure from both ends of the pipeline, and this is what the Finnish
friends of the environment are worried about. Of course, one can debate
how much influence such an historical relation has on current political
issues. A more important factor may be that the Finns, like the Swedes,
have been Germany’s partners in the EU since 1995; therefore, it is
probably important for them to maintain good relations with Berlin. The