For a while now, Scandinavian countries and the Baltic States have started to look like havens for terrorists. Its history stretches back to the time of the first Chechen campaign, when bandit underground organisations from the Caucasus found help and support in these countries. At that time, the leader of the Chechen separatists, Dzhokhar Dudayev, had turned into a hero of «the fight for national liberation», and his death caused Scandinavian and Baltic democrats to launch a series of violent attacks on Russia. Today, the memory of the first president of «Ichkeria» has been immortalised in all the Baltic capitals. There is an avenue named after Dzhokhar Dudayev in Riga, a square in Vilnius and a memorial plaque in the Estonian city of Tartu. 

It is well-known that the post-Soviet Baltic countries, which are quickly being accepted into NATO, are guided by Scandinavia and Poland in their geopolitical conflict with Russia. Estonia, having established close military and political ties with Finland and Sweden, plays the most active role in the dialogue between the Baltic States and Scandinavia. Lithuania is guided more by Poland, but is always willing to maintain an alliance between Tallinn and Riga and Stockholm and Helsinki. Poland is also open to a military and political dialogue with the Baltic States and Scandinavia. In this regard, one of the streets in Warsaw was symbolically renamed the Dzhokhar Dudayev Street in 2005. As a result, a bloc of states has formed next to Russia's north-western borders where terrorism rooted in the North Caucasus and squeezed out of Russia has found suitable refuge. 

The extremist Internet site «Kavkaz-Center», which is once again being talked about in connection with the terrorist attacks in Boston, used to operate out of Sweden and at one time was located in Estonia and Lithuania, but has seriously become a mouthpiece for Chechen terrorists since moving to Finland. Here it has been taken under the wing of Mikael Storsjö, whose activities are regarded quite favourably by the Finnish authorities. Operating out of Finland, «Kavkaz-Center» successfully acts as an «information window» to the outside world for the «Caucasus Emirate» – an organisation classified as terrorist in Russia. Characteristically, the US authorities have also included the Caucasus Emirate on its list of terrorist organisations, but are doing nothing to neutralise it… 

A unique mutual understanding has developed between Chechen separatists and the Finnish authorities. «Kavkaz-Center» has repeatedly attacked Russia for its demands that Helsinki stops supporting terrorist propaganda even indirectly. In turn, from the mouth of Finland's Foreign Affairs Minister Erkki Tuomioja one can hear the argument that «the business of protecting democratic freedoms» does not recognise state borders, and the protection of human rights cannot be the internal affair of any one country. So by protecting the activities of «Kavkaz-Center», the Finnish authorities are defending democratic freedoms and protecting human rights. Such an interpretation of rights and freedoms has already backfired in Boston as well as elsewhere.

The Chechen immigrants that have fled Russia, many of whom are former militants, are using countries in the West as one of the instruments of their foreign policy. The size of the Chechen diaspora in France has reached 30,000 people, in Austria – 25,000, in Belgium – 17,000 and in Germany – 12,000. There are also a large amount of Chechens in Norway and Finland. As a rule, they are using the Baltic States, like Poland, as a transit corridor to Western Europe. 

In the US, Boston is believed to be an area densely populated by Chechens. During the 1990s, Islamic cells in America gave their support to militants in Chechnya, while Boston became home to a local branch of the Islamic organisation «Al-Kifah». Later on, Al-Kifah members were found to have prepared a number of terrorist attacks in the US, including against the World Trade Center in 1993, and the majority of their cells were destroyed. The majority, but not all. The Boston cell continued to operate, lending its support to Islamic extremists in Bosnia and Chechnya. The FBI has not touched it. 

The Chechen diaspora in Europe is essentially playing the role of an information battering ram. Whatever Chechens abroad say themselves, the Western media will only refer to their attacks on Russia and the Russian authorities. Often, even without the knowledge of these Chechens abroad, Western «political make-up artists» give them the appearance of anti-Russian forces and dig a deep divisive pit between Chechens in Russia and Chechens in the West, where all Chechens are divided into «good» Chechens – those who emigrated or escaped to the mountains and forests somewhere in Dagestan and are fighting with the federal authorities – and «bad» Chechens – those involved in Russia's public and political life on an equal basis with others. 

«Quiet» countries like Finland are not always noticeable in the shadow of more powerful Western powers. As a consequence, many know about Washington and London's support of terrorist networks, but only a few know about Finland's contribution. It is interesting how long Helsinki will be able to pretend that democratic Finland and support for international terrorism are completely unrelated.