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August 29th, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : The government and military of Finland barred the Russian bark Kruzenshtern, operated as school ship for the Russian Navy, from docking in Mariehamn during the Russia – Belarus Zapad 2017 military exercises.
Russian officials had asked permission for the 9-year-old four-master bark to dock in Mariehamn in Finland’s demilitarized Åland province between September 28 -30. However, the vessel was denied docking rights by the defense forces of Finland.
The dates coincide with the joint Russian -Belarus Zapad 2017 military exercises held in an operational territory spanning from the tip of the Scandinavian peninsula to southern Belarus.
The Zapad 2017 military exercise, involving a total of about 100,000 troops from Belarus and Russia is highly controversial as it is. It has become even more controversial as China declared that it would deploy a vessel to the Baltic Sea to participate.
However, 2017 is also the 100th anniversary of Finland’s declaration of independence from Russia. Finland’s declaration of independence from Russia was adopted on December 6, 2017, ending its “autonomy” within Russia as the “Arch Dutchy of Finland”.
In November 1917 the Bolshevik government accepted Finland’s right to full self-determination including the right to secession. However, Russia and Finland have since been involved in two extremely bloody wars, nearly resulting in Finland being “re-absorbed by an expansionist Soviet Union.
The Kruzenshtern was originally built in 1926 at Geestemünde in Bremerhaven, Germany. The ship was confiscated as a war trophy by the Soviet Union in 1946 as “reparation for World War II”. The vessel now belongs to a Russian academy in Kaliningrad that trains cadets in “marine research”. The “history” of the vessel makes the request to have it dok in the demilitarized Åland province even more controversial.
Some would say having the Kruzenshtern visit Finland during the Zapad 2017 drills is a sign of friendship and good, neighborly relations. Others would see the request as an outright provokation.
The now Russian-owned war-trophy Kruzenshtern and its crew have a questionable reputation in Baltic and Scandinavian waters.
In 2014 it accidentally sunk the Danish pilot vessel Master Diver off the Danish coast when the two vessels failed to release. In 2015 it ended its visit to Iceland’s capital Reykjavík by ramming into two docked Icelandic coastguard ships.
CH/L – nsnbc 29.08.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/08/29/finland-barred-russian-bark-from-docking-in-demilitarized-aland-during-zapad-military-exercise/
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