Setback for large-scale tourism plans for former Finnish island of Suursaari

Russia wants to examine impact of NATO membership of Baltic States

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The Russian island of Suursaari in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland will apparently not be opened to extensive foreign tourism as early as had been hoped.
      Participants at a Finnish-Russian seminar held in the southeastern Finnish city of Kotka on Thursday learned from Moscow that the enlargement of NATO to Russia’s doorstep will postpone tourism projects for the former Finnish island.
     
The bad news came from Presidential spokesman Yevgeni Makarov, who said that Russia is closely following what the NATO membership of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania will bring.
      He pointed out that Russia has joined the treaty on limiting conventional weapons, while the Baltic States have not.
      "If they behave in an impolite manner, it could have a great impact on the positive development."
     
Makarov would not say if there were plans to turn Suursaari into a military base again, nor would he discuss the island’s strategic importance.
      The issue is complicated, but two years ago nobody imagined that it would have any significance.
      At the first Suursaari seminar two years ago, Finnish companies were discussing the possibilities of opening the island to tourism. Originally the idea was proposed by President Boris Yeltsin, and his successor, Vladimir Putin, is also said to have taken a positive view.
      Opening Suursaari to tourism would require legislative changes in Russia. Currently special permission is required to visit the area.
      The necessary changes were almost complete when the change in policy was announced.
      Kauko Jämsén, the Finnish Consul-General in St. Petersburg, compared Suursaari with Kaliningrad, whose fate was a matter of contention in Russia for 15 years.
     
"Hopefully Suursaari will not be the object of the same kind of indecision. It would be unfortunate if a new point of tension were created in the Gulf of Finland."
      Jämsén feels that opening the island to tourism would be a positive signal for relations between Russia and the EU.
      Neither Finnish nor Russian experts said that they would give up. Everyone at the seminar said that they would continue with the planning.
      Maksim Grimze of the Russian company GEO, says that he is not worried about the investments already made. The company has spent about two million US dollars, leasing land on Suursaari, clearing away debris and mines, and building a 32-bed hotel. A pier for 30 boats is scheduled for completion in May, and four cabins will be finished in the autumn.
      "Travel from Russia will not be a problem", Grimze observes. The island can be reached by helicopter from St. Petersburg and Vyborg, and at the end of May a vessel carrying 20 passengers will start sailing there from Primorsk.
      The first group of Russian visitors will land on Suursaari on May 7. The island has caught the interest of both fishermen and divers, attracted by a number of sunken ships in the area. Grimze says that foreigners will also be able to travel to Suursaari, as long as they book at least a month in advance.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Suursaari shrugs off its long sleep and prepares for the tourists (19.5.2002)
  BACKGROUND: Suursaari was once a Finnish paradise island (19.5.2002)

Helsingin Sanomat