Following the Finland-Russia Society’s decision to withdraw from managing the institute’s operations, the Finnish Institute in Saint Petersburg has announced it will be closing. Set up to represent Finnish culture and to serve as a meeting place for Finnish and Russian academic research and culture in St. Petersburg, all activity has been put on hold due to the war since the end of April, with operations expected to cease entirely by the end of the year. The institute’s closure is part of a wider deterioration of Finnish and Russian relations since the launch of the military attack against Ukraine on 24 February. Read more: YLE.fi