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Virolahti, Finland
Boat trip to a summer cottage in a special location. Veli Vartiala takes us to his family's island in the easternmost Gulf of Finland, almost 200 kilometers from the capital Helsinki.

Veli Vartiala, islander:
"It's Russia over there!"

Special conditions apply in these waters: The yellow sea marks mark the border zone, the actual state border is only about 100 meters away. Boats are only allowed to sail during daylight hours – and the flag must be hoisted so that border guards can see directly who is on the move.
Veli Vartiala, islander:
"Of course, especially when there is a westerly wind, one hopes that there will be no engine breakdown. Otherwise, you'll be on the Russian side in less than a minute."

Recently, NATO's external border has also been established here. Whether the belligerent neighbor influences life here, we want to find out here: We go to the island of Vanhasaari.
Animation:
It used to belong to Finland together with the neighbouring island, but today a border divides the two sides. Now Vanhasaari belongs to Finland, the other half of the double island, Martinsaari, belongs to Russia. It is the only island in the Gulf of Finland that is crossed by a state border. The requirements are correspondingly strict.

Veli Vartiala, islander:
"The visit must always be properly justified."
Reporter: "A bit lonely here, isn't it?"
Veli Vartiala, islander:
"There's not much going on here. After all, no one is allowed to come here without permission. You always have to apply for the border zone, that's how it is...«
In order to set foot on the idyllic island and be allowed to accompany Vartiala, we also needed a permit to enter the border zone. Visitors from abroad will be examined more closely. Anyone who thinks they can walk inconspicuously through the thicket here – no way. The Finnish Border Guard is also present here.

Veli Vartiala, islander:
"The camera is pointing downwards right now. They're probably making sure we don't climb over the fence... It's remote-controlled, which goes like a live broadcast into the control room. The camera was installed in 1997 when the border guard connected the island to the power grid. So the state brought us electricity to the hut."
Reporter: "Doesn't that make you feel very controlled?"
Veli Vartiala, islander:
"No, not that. The zoom barely reaches the hut. Besides, there are cameras everywhere here in the border zone anyway."

And here is the only house on the island. It belongs to Veli Vartiala and his three siblings, today Sister Minna is there and looks after the right. Right now, the swallows are causing some unrest.

The Vartialas did not build the summer cottage until the early 1990s. In order to be allowed to build in the border area at all, the family had to overcome many bureaucratic hurdles. Since the entire island used to belong to the family, Veli's father fought for a building permit before the Supreme Court.
His father's birthplace had remained on the other half of the island after the Winter War.

Veli Vartiala, islander:
"About half a kilometer away was my father's home village, with about ten houses. Here is the house where he was born, taken in 1940. After the bombings, they had apparently repaired the roof. And here my father sits at the border post in the 1940s."

Animation:
After the Russian war of aggression on Finland, the Winter War, Finland had to cede territories to the Soviet Union with the so-called "Peace of Moscow". In addition to Karelia and areas in the north, the outer islands in the Gulf of Finland also went to the Soviets at that time. After all, the Vartiala family remained half of their island.

Veli Vartiala, islander:
"So that's where the border post is."

Taking a close look at the border post is strictly forbidden. Which the Vartiala children once did not take very seriously.

Veli Vartiala, islander:
"I guess I was just under 15 at the time, and with my little brother we were on skis around the post. For the pleasure of adventure. This caused trouble: the Russians flew by helicopters, the Finns came by snowmobiles. You couldn't deny anything, the tracks in the snow were quite clear."

In the border zone itself and over the island of Vanhasaari, no drone is allowed to fly – but that's how calm the archipelago of Virolahti looks. But the idyll is deceptive: the water, which reaches as far as St. Petersburg on the Russian side, is constantly monitored by radar.

The Maritime Guard of Hurppu is responsible for border security here. Markku Ahonen from the headquarters in the port city of Kotka is one of the people who keep track of the entire eastern maritime border:

Markku Ahonen, Deputy Head of Coast Guard Kotka
»On the Finnish side, we actually know everyone who regularly travels here by boat. And, of course, we observe what is happening on the neighboring side every day and make a note of it."

Has there been more to observe here lately? The Coast Guard does not want to confirm this.

Markku Ahonen, Coast Guard Kotka
"Well, there was an incident in June that was also reported: Two men came here from Russia in a rubber dinghy, and then they applied for asylum."
Reporter: "So something like this already happens?"
Markku Ahonen, Coast Guard Kotka
"Yes, it's maybe five to ten cases a year, sometimes more, sometimes less. But overall, it's quiet. And, of course, our Russian colleagues make sure that no one leaves the country."

Finnish and Russian border guards are still working together in the waters. Geographical proximity has always ensured a close relationship. Here in the archipelago of Virolahti, it reaches as far as the Tsarist Empire.

For Veli Vartiala, this is also part of the family history.

Veli Vartiala, islander: "Tsar Nicholas II's yacht is anchored here:
the "Standart". The photo was taken sometime around 1910.«

The imperial yacht served as the traveling summer residence of the last Russian tsar. Nicholas II and his family spent entire summers on the small islands.

Vartiala's great-aunt Naimi had witnessed the visits as a contemporary witness. She told the family about it in private audio recordings:

Audio/Naimi Vanhala, contemporary witness
»They often came as early as June. Playgrounds on the beach have been prepared for the children. They moved freely throughout the archipelago. The emperor got out and greeted the people. In 1914, the German Emperor came to visit."

These were turbulent times here on the island – shortly before the start of the First World War. Individual ceramic insulators on the trees still bear witness to lively communication:

Veli Vartiala, islander:
"In the 1910s, news of the tsars' visits passed through my father's house. The imperial telegraph station was set up there. The pipes were pulled across the island and through the sea."

It seems that the island of Vanhasaari has ALWAYS been both: far away from big politics – and yet very close.

Reporter: This is now also the NATO border – how does that feel?

Veli Vartiala, islander:
"Well, I would say quite well. That's what the smarter ones decided. But it was probably only a matter of time. «

Today, the proximity to Russia makes him think.

Veli Vartiala, islander:
"Specifically, we don't notice anything of the war here. But it's an unpredictable country – and it always has been."

Recently, more Russian boats have been patrolling nearby again, Vartiala says. Today, there are none in sight.

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