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Some Russian speakers living in Finland fear that the situation in Ukraine will increase discrimination. According to YLE, tensions within the Russian-speaking diaspora have also increased.
As Teemu Oivo, doctor of social sciences, told the publication, there are signs that negative attitudes towards Russian speakers are intensifying. According to him, more than before, people are worried about the attitude of other residents of Finland towards those who may be considered Russians.
Oivo added that the fear of discrimination is not a new phenomenon. For example, cases of harassment based on ethnicity were also observed in the 1990s. The expert pointed out that discrimination caused many Russian-speaking citizens to change their name to something more similar to Finnish, as people were afraid of the consequences. And what is happening today in Ukraine only fuels fears of discrimination.
There are just over 80,000 Russian speakers in Finland. In Helsinki, Russian is the most common mother tongue among foreign speakers. Russian is the native language of about 20 thousand people.
Similar concerns are observed in the Czech Republic. According to the local portal 420on, Czech Education Minister Petr Gazdik even sent a letter to directors and teachers, warning them of the risks, for example, of lynching due to belonging to any nationality. In his address, Gazdik reminded that children are not responsible for the behavior of adults and that an important task of the school is to strengthen healthy relationships in difficult historical times.
It is noted that the Ministry of Education sent out a five-point guide to schools with methodological recommendations on how teachers should work with students in the classroom. In those classes where children of citizens of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia study, the ministry recommends conducting targeted preventive work with the entire team.
Source: Rosbalt
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
