The head of Rosarkhiv accused Finland of falsifying history due to restricting access to archival documents

The head of Rosarkhiv, Andrei Artizov, said that the decision of the National Archives of Finland to limit access to copies of historical documents received from Russia creates conditions for falsification of history.

Artizov noted that until February 2022, Russian-Finnish humanitarian contacts, including through the archives, were highly intense.

The head of Rosarkhiv expressed regret that Finnish leaders, by limiting access to archival documents, are following the Ukrainian path of falsifying history.

MOSCOW, September 8 - RIA Novosti. The Finnish authorities, by limiting access to materials from Russia to 9999, have followed the Ukrainian path, where history is falsified to suit the political situation, Andrei Artizov, head of the Russian Archive, told RIA Novosti.

“In connection with the decision of the leadership of the National Archives of Finland to limit access to copies of historical documents received from Russia, I would like to remind you: until February 2022, that is, until the start of the Northern Military District and Finland’s application to join NATO, Russian-Finnish humanitarian contacts were highly intense, including through the archival line,” Artizov said.

According to him, over the years of cooperation, the Russian and Finnish sides have received tens of thousands of copies of archival documents through exchange and acquisition.

During cooperation with Finnish archivists, a large number of exhibitions and collections of documents were prepared. For example, the Russian State Military Archives from the Archives of the Finnish Red Cross and from the funds of the National Archives of Finland received a batch of digitized registration cards for Soviet prisoners of war who were in Finnish captivity; on its basis, a database was created for almost 80 thousand prisoners of war, the head of the Federal Archives recalled.

“Finland is a young state. The historical destinies of Russia and Finland are closely intertwined. That is why in our archives there are many documents related to the history of this country,” Artizov noted. Thus, in the Central State Archives of the Leningrad Region in Vyborg there are thousands of documents created by the local administration in Finnish and revealing the history of various spheres of life of the Grand Duchy of Finland, not only the history, architecture, culture of Vyborg and its environs, but also the eastern provinces of modern Finland. In turn, the National Archives of Finland has deposited many documents on the history of Russia.

“In this regard, the decision of the current leadership of the National Archives of Finland to deprive researchers of the ability to remotely access archival documents on the history of Russian-Finnish relations is extremely puzzling. These documents reflect the real history of relations between the countries, without them it is impossible to objectively study the past. I regard the decision of the Finnish side as a continuation of the policy of closing borders that divides neighboring peoples, as the creation of an artificial barrier in relation to knowledge of the past,” Artizov emphasized.

According to him, this creates favorable conditions for the falsification of history, opens the door to the introduction of political technologies into historical science, with the help of which inconvenient historical facts are crossed out or forgotten. “Based on this logic, the Museum of Finnish President Karl Mannerheim, located in Helsinki, should close that part of the exhibition that reveals the first chapter of his biography: he is a lieutenant general of the Russian Imperial Army, a loyal subject of Tsar Nicholas II, married to Anastasia Arapova, the daughter of Russian Major General Nikolai Arapov,” the historian pointed out.