Finland’s Border Region Once Profited From Russia. Now Unease Is Growing

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Since the closure, the steel plant has shed staff. The region’s three forest-industry firms — UPM-Kymmene Oyj, Stora Enso Oyj and Metsä Group — all announced job cuts. Local health-care services are being pared back.

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The unemployment rate in the town of 25,000 is 15%, well above the national average of 9.1%. South Karelia has seen the fastest relative growth in youth unemployment.

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Sixteen-year-old Sarah Virtanen chairs the Imatra Youth Council, which promotes young people’s wellbeing. She says families are struggling, affecting all aspects of daily life. Many young people leave for the cities to study. Virtanen, whose father is a border guard, dreams of becoming a police officer.

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She says she once viewed Russia neutrally and previously visited St. Petersburg to watch ice hockey. That changed after the invasion of Ukraine. Russia, she says, has become “unpredictable.”

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“I know small children of kindergarten age, and they’re genuinely scared,” she said. “They lose sleep and think a lot about war.”

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A common refrain in Imatra is whether there should be a plan for when peace eventually comes to Ukraine — when and under what conditions the border could reopen. Many locals feel that conversation can’t happen now; when the national leadership isn’t talking about it, no one is.

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Imatra’s marketing and tourism director Jaakko Jäppinen is working on a new strategy for the town to replace the lost income from Russia. The city is courting tourists with nature and cycling as attractions.

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Whatever its future, Imatra won’t build itself around Russia again. “Russian money was easy, but it left us with services oversized for the town,” Jäppinen said over lunch in a restaurant originally founded in what was then Enso. “The easy money is gone.”

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Imatra is part of a region seeking special-economic-zone status with temporary tax relief. Hopes are pinned on investments in the green transition and hydrogen economy: Nordic Nano Group Oy, which makes solar-energy and battery solutions, is opening a plant in Imatra.

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The town is delineated and defined by its river, the Vuoksi, accompanied by the crisp scent of pine from the surrounding forests. The river crosses into Russia after passing the rapids of Imatrankoski, billed as Finland’s earliest tourist attraction. The area became popular after Russian Empress Catherine II visited in 1772.

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Today, the river is Toni Kainulainen’s livelihood. Kainulainen, 50, runs a small tourism operation on Varpasaari island in Imatra and his business has done well, benefiting from the boom in RV travel after the pandemic. He never had many Russian visitors to lose.

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Born in Imatra, he’s used to living by the Russian border in good times and bad.

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“The world is this close to a third world war,” he said, pinching his fingers as he took a break from repairing a dock in the autumn sun. He still regards Imatra as “the best place in the world,” and plans to expand his business by investing as much as he can borrow. 

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Some residents think Imatra could use its proximity to Russia as a selling point. Jäppinen, the marketing director, urges caution.

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“The border is a double-edged sword: It’s exotic, but we also hear from international tour operators that even Finland is now perceived as unsafe,” he said. “We have to be careful.”

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