@@dakkossman2063 Russia is the biggest country in the world, how do you think it became so huge? it wasn't by hugs and handshakes. I have nothing against Russian people, but there are tons of Russian politicians who think in this expansionist way. Always talking about invading Finland or Poland again and so on... Russia should be satisfied with the amount of land it has and leave other countries alone. Nothing to be proud of that Stalin stole Viipuri.. if you were honest, you'd realise that Stalin was a massive traitor to his own country. He killed so many of his own people, just learn about the great purge... and although Soviet Union defeated Finland, it was only because of numbers, Finland were far more successful. Had the numbers been equal, Finland would have won 10-1 .... on average 1 Finn took down 10 Soviet soldiers, where as 1 Soviet took down 1 Finn on average. Stalin declared victory early instead of invading all of Finland due to the losses being so ridiculously high. Hopefully Ukraine can do the same and Russia will eventually give up the idea of invading all of Ukraine for the same reason... Nothing cool about invading smaller countries. Russia needs a different leader and should finally just focus on economy and stop this expansionist bs... They have enough land as it is... there's nothing cool about defeating a lion with a gun. I will never understand people who support a leader who doesn't care about you. Putin only cares about himself...
@@lassesuurmunne8340 In Russia it seems they that they worship "The mighty enormous successful Russia", so the only way Russia can respond to failures in sport and economy is by attacking militarily...
Why quotation marks? It's a city that was inhabited by Finns from the beginning of time until the 1940s. St. Petersburg sits on historically Finnic lands too. Pushkin wrote about it. Look it up. I was in Vyborg in the 1990s. People tried to steal parts of our car while we were driving down the street. Windshield wipers, hood ornament, whatever. A traumatizing visit. I had never seen machine guns, prostitution, bribery, or drunk driving in broad daylight before.
I have a Finnish friend. I brought this city up to him one time when i didnt know much about it. His temper went very high immediately and he said "they stole it from us with threats of war".
They stole it THROUGH war. You can see on the clocktower in the video that is still damaged from shelling during the fierce battles over the town in ´44
That's right. It was a brutal invasion, just like what Russia is doing against Ukraine now, and Finland felt it had to give up a part of their land for peace, or risk losing their entire country.
My wife's grandmother is from Viipuri, that's very common here in the capital area of Finland for people to have grandparents who had to flee Viipuri as the Soviets rolled in as no one wanted to stay with them in power.
My mother's family is from Viipuri. The victorious write the history book. Area round Ladoga was inhabited by Finnic people long before Slavs and Vikings came there. Sad to see that Russia don't take care good about areas they conquered but still do keep conquering new territories.
Fins were generally Swedish bedding. In 1809, Russia conquered Finland from Sweden. The Bolshevik government, which came to power in Russia as a result of the October Revolution, recognized Finland's independence on December 31, 1917. Learn history, not watch TV
@@Волосатыеруки I am talking about who lived there before Rurik arrived. It's in the books. Also that what was recognized as Finland 1917 was taken by Soviet 1939-1940 after Molotov Ribbentrop pact. Have you seen how the towns in occupied Karelia looks like and compared them with those on the other side of the border? Sounds like you are the one watching Russian TV. I don't even own a TV.
The reality is that Russia has too much land compared to their economy and population, to maintain the majority of towns and cities. For example this beautiful city of Vyborg has been let to decay, because there's no money / interest / local population to maintain it as it was before the Russian annexation.
@@adrianobanak2824 not like russian cities 😂. Finland is a wonderful country and probably you did not watch videos of how it was under finnish control
In reality Russia could be as prosperous as Norway and could take care of even it's people on top of the cities, if it had joined human kind at some point of its history. Thank You Svetlana for your honesty.
Russian mir doesnt understand that we have moved on from the times of landgrabbing and are trying to establish some rules and laws to prohibit landgrabbing-wars from happening again. They just don’t get it, it seems. And it seems they have absolutely no culture for accountability and coming to terms with their past. Thats why they just repeat their unstable tsar rule again and again.
@@jrgenjrgensen5987 why America hasn’t been sanctioned then ? When nato attacks it’s fine with . You didn’t protest and put Serbian flag on your profile pic on fb , did you ?
The world is full of beautiful, charming, unforgettable places, steeped in history and culture and interesting stories about them...Thank you once again Svetlana, for introducing us to a few more, that most of us are not likely to get to know up close in our lifetime, but, at the same time, couldn't ask for a better tour guide to them than you yourself, and your lovely videos...🙏
I have known Vyborg since 1985 when I brought my first tour group, and had lunch at Hotel Druzhba before continuing to Leningrad. Two years later I met a Leningrad guide there, and 2 years later we got married. We have a flat near Udelnaya in St Pete, so enjoy regular trips to Vyborg. It takes only an hour on the fast new electric train. Sometimes we stay at the Druzhba, sometimes we just make a day trip of it. I know that the Finn's who moved back here after the Winter War ended in 1940 felt seethingly angry when they had to leave their homes after the Continuation War ended in 1944. However as one comment by a family member who once lived there, Vyborg and Karelia are now Russian. That's an unfortunate fact, but it is reality. Before the war Finn's made a magnificent gift to the city and its people when they reconstructed Alvo Aalto's 1929 library. I love this place, and feel it represents reconciliation. Sadly, as Svetlana points out, the fabric of the city is in a pitiful state. Moscow did provide funds for renovation, but the money was stolen by local politicians. One stole €20 million to pay a bribe to get into politics in Moscow. Sadly, misappropriation of funds is endemic in Russia. Vyborg has such potential, yet it is largely unrealised. I found the people open and friendly, however. Monplaisir Park has also been grossly mismanaged. It's scandalous that such a wonderful place of natural beauty is under threat. Thanks, Sveta. I enjoyed your report from Dixie supermarket. Very interesting, as I haven't been in St Petersburg since we came to bury my lovely mother-in-law just 4 days before the launch of a special military operation. I miss St Petersburg and my Russian family and friends. I miss Vyborg. I hope the war ends soon, and peace returns so I too can return. But I fear this may still be several years away. Merry 'Catholic' Christmas!
You may safely return right now. I am a part of a pretty large expat community in Saint Petersburg which consists of more than 200 people (Americans, Brits, French, Italians, Brazilians and so on) and everyone quite happy to live in Russia even at the present time. We chat regularly and even have some occasional meetings and no one has told about any problems except some taxi scam or dealing with local bureaucracy. The only 2 annoying things are the more expensive plane tickets since now you have to travel to Russia via Istanbul or Dubai and the need to bring cash since Western cards are not working.
@@PaulV. Good to know, and thank you for taking the time to write. I know things look very different from afar. I am not sure I really WANT to go back to SPB right now, but we shall see. My father-in-law is 84, lives for his fishing, but will not be with us for ever. We'll see what Marianna decides when the time comes.
Vyborg has always been inhabited by finns and karelians. Until the winter war when thousands of finns and karelians had to evacuate and leave their homes. Now vyborg is just inhabited by russians and not the native people
@@wilnur4846 lol, language group is different than genetics. Finns and karelians are balto-finnic people who have one of the highest precentage of indo-european dna alongside the baltics and russia
После Выборгской резни 1918 года количество русских жителей Выборга стало стремиться к нолю. Или вам не хочется об этом вспоминать? Или гордитесь - памятную монету выпустили к 100 летнему юбилею?
Yes, it was stolen from us. My grandfather fought there like many others. One Finnish soldier was worth 10 Russians, because we were fighting for our own land.
Svetlana, I got SO excited when I saw you have a vlog. It's beautiful! The colour of the leaves. You were brave to go out and selfish me appreciated your photography skills! Lovely!
The city where my mother was born and where she started school. As a Finn I would not call the city Finno - Russian as during autonomy it was a Finnish city and before WW2 totally evacuated to protect the people (Unlike Leningrad where Stalin let hundreds of thousands Russians die as human shields rather than evacuate them and protect the lives of the citizens). As all Finns left Viborg just like my mother, the city no longer was Finnish in any way, but became a totally Soviet city, and after the USSR collapsed in 1991 it became a totally Russian city. There is no such thing as Finno - Russian cities. Russia is an imperialist state, currently led by war criminals. Finland has nothing to do with Russia and therefore literally nothing is Finno - Russian and will never be. First Finnish and then Russian, two different and separate things.
A guy from country that was faithful ally of Nazi Germany and accomplice in war crimes against the people of Leningrad calls someone a war criminal🤣🤣 Get a grip of reality you arctic-alcoholic troll. But i agree with you in one thing...Russia and Finland have nothing in common (except the long border)...Russia is country of culture, art, poetry, science and sports...and Finland is...well....
1.2 million people died in the siege of Leningrad. It was carried out by the Nazis with the collaboration of Finland. Civilians were not used as shields, but the city was besieged with the goal of everyone being killed. At the end of the war it was handed over to the USSR as compensation by Finland. Personally I think the Finns paid little for helping in a genocide.
@@rurounnu If you bothered to look at a war time map, you would notice thet the Finnish troops were standing on the old border and If a citizen of Leningrad had managed to walk through those troops one would have entered only deeper in Finland. The Finnish troops did not block any connections between the city and the rest of the USSR and therefore Finland was not part of the siege of Leningrad. Finland was only protecting its own territory.
Viipuri was a beautiful city. I love Finland and it should belong to it. One of the few beautiful cities in Russia not looking soviet. I never understood why Russia always expand without having the interest or capability to mantain the places.
I'll blame it on the communists, not current Russia. The current government is trying to renovate the buildings and making it a good city again, but what can you expect for a city that was left unattended for 50-60 years? Only real development started after 2005.
Im a patriotic finnish man. My both grandfathers fought in continuation war. And i personally have no interest in the "vyborg belongs to finland". Things happen, finland lost it and thats that. If everyone would want back what their country have lost we would all be in war.
My heritage is indeed from Viaborg. So its heartbreaking that its said that the ownership has shiwted between some countries while the people who used to be live there were finnish. Its all politics end of the day. Common people are forgot.
А ваше сердце не раздирает тот факт, что Александр 1 в 1811 году передал русский город Выборг (с 1710 года) Финляндии, а вместе с ним и всю Выборгскую губернию? Выборгская резня 1918 года душу не печалит? Финские концлагеря в Карелии, блокада Ленинграда? Финны активно помогали Германии в этом. Дневник Тани Савичевой по ночам не снится? - "Савичевы умерли все" во время блокады. Нет уж, больше не позволим!
Well, technically it was pro-Novgorod Republic aligned land of the Kareli tribes at first. But town and castle were swedish, founded by swedish crusaders during the wars with Novgorod Republic in the late XIII. After the Great Northern war Sweden agreed to cede the land and city to Russia. Only in 1812 Viborg was transferred as sign of good relations to the first known autonomous recognised Finland as a separate state = formal union. The Grand duchy of Finland. Only in the mid of XIX century population started to grow up from 2-3 thsnds. In 1861, the general plan for the development of Vyborg was approved, and new streets were laid out and parks were created on the site of the demolished fortifications of the old swedish town wall. So modern city was founded and developed by russians, germans and swedes. So yeah, my finnish vikings, sure. Don't forget The Viipuri massacre of the russian population in 1918-19.
Viipuri, Vyborg was always since before 1939a city of us Finns. We were part of Sweden, yes. We remained also an autonomy in Russia about 100 years. Just the city and our country was never russified. Until the late czars tried. they failed. In 1939 the Russians attacked with no reason, and stole our Karelia including Viipuri with their nazi pact. Also St Petersburg was built on Finns land, but it is an ancient history.
For no reason? Russia will never forget about the Viipuri massacre. Its also a former Swedish town and Karelia is Novgorod Republic not Finland and never was.
Rurik was no finn, he was Russian of swedish background. The Finns were still living in the forest and herding deer. They weren't sophisticated enough in nation building. It's like saying the great rulers of Sweden was a Sami because the Sami people live close by.
Viborg and other Finnish territories were unprovokedly conquered by force through Russian intervention because Russia believed that the Finnish border was too close to the major city of St. Petersburg, posing a security risk. As happens everywhere Russia conquers land from its neighbors, the city is now declining, and with it, its historical heritage is disappearing, which is very sad and regrettable.😢
In 90's finnish and russian scientists got to see the russian documents. According them Stalins motivation was equally to steal finnish assets. Later Putin closed the access to these archives. Maybe it was embarrassing..
Viipuri was built and inhabited by Finns. Viipuri was part of independent and sovereign Finland, as it had always been. Vyborg was part of Finland under the rule of the King of Sweden and Vyborg was part of Finland under the rule of the Tsar of Russia. Stalin and Hitler divided Poland and Finland between them and Stalin attacked Finland 1939 and looted 10% of Finland's surface area, including Vyborg. There is nothing ambiguous about this. 1991 Boris Jetsin would have sold Karelia back to Finland for 15 billion dollars. The Finns did not want to discuss the matter. Thank God.
@@wber3530Finland was part of Sweden for over 600 years before the Russians but it was always Suomi land of the Finns. long time before swedes or slavs even where in the area.
@@wber3530 No, Finland was not a "Swedish property". People who live in Vyborg (90% Finnic) were Swedish citizens just like anybody else in Sweden. So it was not like Russian imperialism enslaving people's.
Then why is Russian economy been so much better than Ukraines since Ukraine is no longer part of Russia? Why is Crimea better now? Why is Mariupol better now?
Did you know that after the Orcs took over Viipuri, only a couple of hundred people had stayed, while the rest of the almost 100 000 inhabitants having fled. What happened to those couple of hundred people? You guessed it, they were sent to the gulag!
did you know that almost 40k people were placed in Finnish concentration camps (the equivalent of the gulag is only Finnish) and this is only the civilian population, including children. I don’t count 60k prisoners of war. half of all prisoners died.
@@Notrusbotpoor communist soviets were placed in concentration camps after destroying the whole finno-ugric population of Karelia and Ingria , so sad😢
@@DrDeagle Of course, everything that is not about the USSR and Russia is a lie. about Finnish concentration camps of the early 20th century after the civil war in Finland, during the Second World War. you don't even try to look for this information
@@zamzadown Of course, you won’t provide links to information about the composition of the population at the beginning of the 20th century, we’ll just take your word for it
That city looks like your average city in Sweden/Finland. It's absolutely amazing, and to see that train cart with signs in both Finnish and Swedish on it is so cool. I love that they played that song in that cute little shop. And Glögg is the best. I could drink it endlessly. If it hadn't been for the russian signs, it'd be a nordic city by all means. I hope they shape up and stop letting it fall apart....
Yes, it looks like average Nordic, boring town. Cold, gray, small, provincial, nothing to see and nothing to do. Russia has much more beautiful cities to visit.
@@adrianobanak2824 If kept well it could be fine. Right there are 2 cities that are better rest is provincial backwards with lousy roads and houses crumbling, water pipes bursting, heating failing in winter, shit flowing into rivers, nature polluted. Different from Russia Nordic countries keep after all cities and towns not only where the elite lives and steals from the people.
@@mikatimonen5449I wonder where did you find all that nonsense. Even Svetlana's channel has videos from like a dozen different Russian towns including a really small town in Siberia she is originally from. And while most are certainty not as magnificent as Moscow or Saint Petersburg (which from my pov are among the top-10 cities in the whole world), all those towns are clean, safe, have developed infrastructure and a lot of attractions to visit.
@@PaulV. My Russian girlfriend who is from Murmansk. Also I watched guys who travelled around in Russia like Varlamov, Bald Ben and many others. Also some guys who report from where they live like Sergei in Vasya in the hay. Watch them and then say it's nonsense. And I am not talking about safety, unless you are migrant worker from Central Asia, but delayed houses, poorly maintained infrastructure (roads, pipes for central heating, water, sewage etc) and not in top 10 Russian cities or central places in cities. Go where foreigners, Svetlana and those you watched never go. You can use google maps to see for yourself many places if you cannot go yourself. Not saying all places are in decay but saying patriotical lies that there is no such places and that there are no problems is laughable. There is no such paradise country in the world. Even a country with lot of natural resources have their problems even if their nationalists say there isn't and if there is something then it's some other countries fault. Such idiots sadly exist in every country and Russia is no exception.
Well, you had your try with nazis, btw participated in Siege of Leningrad, now you with NATO and Helsinki is the first target for nuke. Sill want something? And for polluted town - look at your new ghost city - Lapperanta. And something interesting you can watch on physics map: Russia (Karelia) - all in woods - Finland border - less and no woods, sold in Europe as I know, well done.
Thank you, Sveta! You brought back sweet childhood memories. Dad actually bought a tram just like you showed, and we used it as a summer cottage. 🌅🇫🇮🇷🇺
@@mariopigwa8538 i assume you are from Europe? If you are, you are the last one allowed to speak about theft, because Europe owes it's riches to Africa, South America and Asia...all of those ex-colonies that were robbed by Europeans for centuries.
@@adrianobanak2824 i assume you are Sancho Pancho from Banana Republika de San Escobar ruled by colonel Lopez. I want to remind you that Europeans brought civilization to America. Unfortunately, some people from South America have been fooled by leftists who have made most of these countries third world.
Torkel Knutsson.led the Third Swedish Crusade to Finland against the pagan Karelians in 1293. The target of the Swedish attack was the harbor and marketplace at Soumenvedenpohja, later known as Vyborg. The place was key to the West Karelians' trade and exchange with the outside world, and even before the arrival of the Swedes there was an older Karelian fortification there.
Viipuri was all ways Finnish city built by finns lived in by Finns for hundreds of years even when it was part of Sweden or Russia. The Finnish people have lived in the area for thousands of years way before the swedes then the slaves came around.
I can see that you created this video with love for us finns while not forgetting the swedes either, with some special touch ❤Thank you for this. You are amazing! It's a shame I never visited this city while it is so close to the border. It seems to be in better condition than I expected actually and very beautiful in many ways indeed. When it comes to history I don't want to carry on the hateful feelings. From what I understand people in Russia do not have such feelings towards us.
Thats such a heartwarming comment among all that bitterness in the thread. I live in Saint Petersburg (although I ve moved there from NYC a long time ago) and dont know a single Russian who is hostile to Finland here. Its just the opposite - people are really sad that politicians destroyed relationships between two countries, they miss Finnish tourists and miss visiting Finland as well.
Viipuri used to be one of the wealthiest and cleanest cities of all Finland. It seems like Russians don't take good care of it (in these days there are poverty, dirtiness and the places are worn out).
😢Sad😢the owners of the beautiful buildings don’t show pride of ownership by keeping them repaired or maintained or painted…I enjoyed your narrative, history lesson, and sight seeing. .
In that day the Carelia is joined to Finland, all stolen houses, apartments, forests and fields must be given back to the inheritors of those Finnish people, who were the legal owners of this property before WW2. In Estonia, in all Baltic countries, in Ukraine and in all Soviet occupied countries this is already done long ago. The privatization of the property done started in the year 1991 when these countries got back their independence and the property the communist had taken started to find back to their legal owners. But in Finnish Carelia the privatization is not yet done. Actually the privatization should be done right away, no matter if the area is belonging to Russia or in Finland. Because the legal owners of each house are living in Finland. Every people living now in Viipuri should have asked that whose house you are living? How much did you pay for your house? So far todays inhabitants there haven´t paid anything yet. Everything they have now is stolen from Finnish people who once lived in Viipuri.
@@MikaRautio Actually based on international laws the ownership of all land and buildings in Karelia belongs to those Finns who lived there before. International laws say wars might change borders, but private property is protected. There was actually such a court case started in Vyborg, and the judge was understanding, but then Moscow told the court case must be ended immediately.
@@MikaRautioМика, мы заплатили за всё это. Заплатили кровью и даже не солдат, а 1 миллиона 200 тысяч мирных жителей Ленинграда, многих тысяч узников финских концлагерей в Карелии. Лучше забудь. Это теперь Россия.
According to the book The Winter War, following this war 20,000 Finns were given the opportunity to stay in Vyborg, but every single Finn relocated to Finnish territory. living under Stalin would be as bad as living under Putin; or maybe the same. .
Yes, Russia stole Karelen from Finland. Thet is Russias MO. They stole the whole of Finland once, from Sweden (it was a part of Sweden for 600 years before that, from the time any kingdoms existed in that area), when they for a short while sided with Napoleon.
So you were Swedens bit..es for 600 years? How was that? So, if finland was part of Sweden why it is a country today and not a province of Sweden? Russians are gone from finland since 1918.
@@briantravelman It was to "protect Leningrad from a possible German invasion through Finland". Such an invasion of Germans through Finland eventually happened specifically because USSR started the Winter War. The Winter War was a pointless war caused by Stalin's paranoid mind.
@@StekTM1 I'm Finnish-Karelian and you are one liar. Finns treated Karelians as one of Finnish tribe - as they are - and equals to them in every way. Russians were in camps tough.
who cares who you are. europe is indo-european,but you some finno ugric karelian asians. you dont belong, neither to "finnland", not to russia and not to europe at all.
A good history lesson, my parents are Finns so I liked it a lot. Regarding the past fighting, I believe Peter the Greats creation of Petersburg was the big issue. The Russians had very little interest in the Baltic area, then with the new super city they changed their view, How many Kms from Viipurii to Pietaari? They are close... Supposedly the new mega cannons of 100 years ago were in range. Plus the Bolshy's started in Petersburg.
There was a town before St. Petersburg aswell, called Nyen.. & as a sidenote, St. Petersburg was initially largely built by slave labour, taken from the eastern parts of Sweden, ie what today is Finland. 🧐
Yes I agree, however Peters interest in Baltic trade and tech made one of the worlds great cities for the people. And it change their direction of interest.@user-yp2mw2ko9k
The town will only be as good and well preserved as you want it and the generation of Russia that is young. This video is one step in that direction by showing us a bit of history and also the beautiful places in this little town. It is now part of the Russian federation and becomes yours to take care of. Thanks you for sharing and take care.
Thank you for acknowledging the fact it's a Finnish city. One day it will return to Finland. After almost century of Russification we will make it great again.
I would love to see it a part of Finland again. But since its original population of Karelen had to flee or be deported by Stalin it was made “Finn-frei” by the Soviets. So it would be hard to do. Huge democratic and logistical problems. But maybe the population there today would prefer to be a part of Finland and the EU. Maybe. Taking over would also be extremely expensive for Finland. But it could be worth it, I guess, in the long run.
@@rhodium1096Finland has not the same problems as Sweden and Denmark to assimilate a large group of immigrants that came during a short time. So no. You can’t compare Finland with for example Sweden in that regard. The numbers are very, very different.
@@tomasarfert Karelians like Finnish and Estonians are Finno Ugric/Baltic!..so they belong to Uralic lenguage and the third Russian ethnicity behind Slavs and Tatars. so be happy that Russia are not claiming all Finland and Estonian territory.
Much is actually preserved the way it was when the soviet tanks rolled in to the town in 44, accompanied by heavy shelling of the outnumbered finnish defenders. Luckily the civilians was evacuated west in time. This is one reason why we understand very well what Ukraine is going through.
Wow! That place was absolutely beautiful. Thanks for the video. Hair goddess is a fitting name because your hair is amazing. Hope you are doing well and have a wonderful season.
Svetlana,thanks for sharing …I have visited this town …such a pity that it’s not preserved and restored better …but it is a beautiful place …until next time …Alex🇬🇷
Crimea and Vyborg actually have two things in common: 1. Both are temporarily occupied by Russia and 2. neither of them ever in history had Russian majority population before 1944 deportation of the original peoples (Finns from Vyborg, Tatars from Crimea).
Yes but Vyborg had virtually no Russian minority at all. It was pretty completely an ethnic Finnish city. Perhaps there were also some Swedish speaking Finns. There's propabably more ethnic Russians in modern Lappeenranta...
Увадаемые Юхан с болота и Йонас! Крым был русским во времена крещения Руси - это более 1000 лет назад. Потом был утрачен и вновь завоеван Екатериной2 в 1783 году. И татары там уже не были большинством. Выборг был основан шведами на землях карел, которые были данниками Новгорода. И в 1710 году он снова стал русским городом. Почему Александр 1 в 1811 году передал Выборгскую губернию (не только Выборг) Великому княжеству Финляндскому - не знаю. Но Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин эту ошибку исправил. Поэтому у Крыма и Выборга есть общее - они около 300 лет русские. И таковыми останутся.
@@ИванГригорьев-л5ы Bullshit. Vyborg was built by Finns (the time that Finns were part of Sweden). The builders AND the inhabitants were speaking Finnish. There was never Swedish nor Russian population in the city. The highest bosses Swedish/Swedish speaking Finns yes, but the main population was Finnish. Remember, if you have Russian history 'education' it is same as knowing nothing about history. Why? Russian history was written during Soviet Union, everything was written to whitewash Russian war crimes from Second World War. e.g. "Lenin donated independence to Finland." Never happened, the contrary. But this was written to the Russian history 'education' in 1950s to explain how it wasn't that bad that Russians attacked Finland 1939. As Finnish independence was 'gift from Lenin' anyway. It wasn't. Finns marched 1917 to Piter and demanded independence. Lenin HAD to agree as White Russia was still a threat. But same time Lenin sent thousands of rifles to Finland to organize a coup against democratically elected Finnish government and told Stalin how Finland will be soon (1918) joined back to Soviet Russia. If someone wants to learn real history, has to start by burning all Russian 'history' books.
@@juhanivalimaki5418Тем не менее - Ленин дал независимость, как ни крути. О финском основании Выборга. Вполне вероятно, что камни носили финны, вернее карелы. Но замок построили шведы. А о том чьими руками - мало кто вспоминает.
@@ИванГригорьев-л5ы Again, not Swedes. Finns. Finns were part of Sweden then. The people who lived and built Vyborg were Finnish. Speaking Finnish. Only higher officers and officials were Swedish, not even all of them.
I visited Vyborg and some other places in the stolen karelia in 2013. It was so shocking to see in how bad condition the infrastructure (being old Finland) was compared to how we have here in Finland. Yet it was really interesting, its a pity russia is what it is with putler, so as long as things wont change, will never go back there again.
I'll blame it on the communists, not current Russia. The current government is trying to renovate the buildings and making it a good city again, but what can you expect for a city that was left unattended for 50-60 years? Only real development started after 2005.
I guess in that case New York City is still New Amsterdam… what a beautiful blend of differing architectures, Sveta! Hopefully there will eventually be a push to help preserve Vyborg for many years to come… thanks again!
Can you name the war between the British and the Dutch that resulted in New Amsterdam becoming New York? No? Seems like the Russians have a long history of waging territorial wars of aggression against their neighbors. The Winter War with Finland is a good example. Can you think of a more modern example? Perhaps Ukraine? Or maybe the invasion of Poland in 1939 with the help of their ally Nazis Germany?
@@mikatimonen5449 not that exact area. New Sweden was south of New Nederland. We took your area and later the English took all the area. Then we took it back for a year. Then we had to give it to the English.
@@gerhard6105 But before new Netherlands still. New Sweden was conquered by the Dutch Republic in 1655 during the Second Northern War and incorporated into the Dutch colony of New Netherland.
The USSR didn't "steal" Vyborg, it literally STOLE it (without quotes). Your thumbnail was telling enough for me to NOT WATCH YOUR VIDEO. Slava Ukraini!
Some people prefer to forget that Finland had been a part of Sweden for centuries with not many rights and a language suppression rules. After that it became a part of the Russian Empire for over a century with all privileges before the Bolsh acquired power.. Lenin granted independence to Finland for the first time in its long history. Right now the situation with this small and beautiful town is not great because of the lousy and corrupt local leadership it has had for number of years. And it will not last much longer. I know that, I grew up in this town when it looked gorgeous.
It was the same laws all over Sweden, including Finland, up to Russia conquered it in the early 19 hundreds. However Finland kept Swedish laws after it, with way more freedom than for the rest of Russia, with free farmers and more freedom of speech and so on. But that sort of ended ca 1880-1910, when the state wanted to start a Russification process. Luckily for Finland Russia was beaten in WW1, and the communists (supported by Lenin) lost the civil war in Finland. Otherwise there would not be a Finland today. … anyway, the laws and rights both in Finland and Sweden has been almost the same for a very long time. Even during most of the 19th century.
The privileges for Finland was, in other words, “you can keep your Swedish laws …. For now”. Then Alexander III wanted to change that. And started to take the rights away, one by one. Stupid move, that only made the people of Finland wanting to have their own nation more.
Russia is only good at stealing from other countries but can’t maintain what they have! I have visited Russia before and unfortunately the country is very poor once you get out of the main cities. I’m sure that the Finnish people would take much better care of this area. Thanks for your honesty
I'll blame it on the communists, not current Russia. The current government is trying to renovate the buildings and making it a good city again, but what can you expect for a city that was left unattended for 50-60 years? Only real development started after 2005. Russian cities are now developing at a fast rate, even outside of the main cities. 20 years ago we used to stand in lines to get piece of bread in the morning, there were no roads in Russia, just mud piles.
Russia has stolen lots of different things from many different groups of people, and they continue to do this. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Tell us how America stole Texas, about the British occupation of the north of Ireland, about the Turkish occupation of half of Cyprus? No? Of course, only the Russians are the eternal culprits and the only evil, you disgusting Nazis!
Apparently according to my American World Book Encyclopaedia Russia was originally called RUS. Also Ukraine was the first Russian state. What a shocker that was. It's typed right there in am American Encyclopaedia.😂 What's also interesting is most if not all the Baltic States were once all Soviet or Russian. I don't care, all I care about is a good leader. Cheap electricity, cheap oil, cheap gas. This all affects our life. This is why it's so tough in Australia now. Also our oligarchs don't care enough.
Let's be precise. Legally the Sovibet Union has not stolen Viipuri from Finland. But Finland did not sign the two treaties from 1940 and 1945 volutarily. It did so, because there was no alternative. Especially in 1939/1940 the Fins fought bravely and the Red Army had massive casualties. But of course at the end, the small Finish army had no chance against the human waves of the Soviet Red Army. The continuation war between 1941 and 1944, that led to a new treaty with even more losses than back in 1940, was a mistake of Finland. Finland allied with Nazi-Germany to get back Finish-Karelia. This fired back when Germany was losing the war. However, I would not consider it impossible that Karelia will one day be part of Finland again. Since the 15th century the Russian territory has grown like a tumor and the Russian space now contains territories where ethnic Russians are a minority. If the situation in Russia becomes unstable in terms of economy and demography, then those minorities may try to break away from Moscow. And this could then be a "chance" for China to get back Outer Mandchuria. In such a chaos, maybe people of Karelia may want to join Finland - who knows?
Sure Finland is rich for its tiny population, but do you seriously believe it has the economy to integrate and rebuild one of the poorest regions in Europe? Besides it's not even Karelian anymore, so why should we care? It's the Russian government's job to take care of its land and people, not ours lol.
It’s complicated..I guess beauty IS everywhere..your English is excellent..and I admit you look like American or European actress, .a movie star or TV star..like I said ..it’s complicated..the explaining of it..would take all day..unpretentious..unassuming..down to earth..refreshing..
"I didn't steal your bike, I just took custody of it for the foreseeable future."
My mother was born in viipuri 1924, and had to leave in 1939 :(
Good
@@dakkossman2063 Russia is the biggest country in the world, how do you think it became so huge? it wasn't by hugs and handshakes. I have nothing against Russian people, but there are tons of Russian politicians who think in this expansionist way. Always talking about invading Finland or Poland again and so on... Russia should be satisfied with the amount of land it has and leave other countries alone. Nothing to be proud of that Stalin stole Viipuri.. if you were honest, you'd realise that Stalin was a massive traitor to his own country. He killed so many of his own people, just learn about the great purge... and although Soviet Union defeated Finland, it was only because of numbers, Finland were far more successful. Had the numbers been equal, Finland would have won 10-1 .... on average 1 Finn took down 10 Soviet soldiers, where as 1 Soviet took down 1 Finn on average. Stalin declared victory early instead of invading all of Finland due to the losses being so ridiculously high. Hopefully Ukraine can do the same and Russia will eventually give up the idea of invading all of Ukraine for the same reason... Nothing cool about invading smaller countries. Russia needs a different leader and should finally just focus on economy and stop this expansionist bs... They have enough land as it is... there's nothing cool about defeating a lion with a gun. I will never understand people who support a leader who doesn't care about you. Putin only cares about himself...
@@lassesuurmunne8340 In Russia it seems they that they worship "The mighty enormous successful Russia", so the only way Russia can respond to failures in sport and economy is by attacking militarily...
Why quotation marks? It's a city that was inhabited by Finns from the beginning of time until the 1940s.
St. Petersburg sits on historically Finnic lands too. Pushkin wrote about it. Look it up.
I was in Vyborg in the 1990s. People tried to steal parts of our car while we were driving down the street. Windshield wipers, hood ornament, whatever.
A traumatizing visit. I had never seen machine guns, prostitution, bribery, or drunk driving in broad daylight before.
Вы путаете. Вся эта территория - место борьбы Швеции и России. Финляндии не существовало. Просто не существовало.
I have a Finnish friend. I brought this city up to him one time when i didnt know much about it. His temper went very high immediately and he said "they stole it from us with threats of war".
They stole it THROUGH war. You can see on the clocktower in the video that is still damaged from shelling during the fierce battles over the town in ´44
That's right. It was a brutal invasion, just like what Russia is doing against Ukraine now, and Finland felt it had to give up a part of their land for peace, or risk losing their entire country.
@@semipalatinsk1 We chose life, but it´s a trauma for our nation that reverberates to this day.
😂😂Скажи ему, иди плакать рекой.
@@semipalatinsk1😂
It is one of the many territories Moscovites stole from neighbouring countries.
come and conqueror, lgbt clown
yeah, that is what empires do - expand
this city was part of Russian Empire for 2 centures
My wife's grandmother is from Viipuri, that's very common here in the capital area of Finland for people to have grandparents who had to flee Viipuri as the Soviets rolled in as no one wanted to stay with them in power.
My mother's family is from Viipuri. The victorious write the history book. Area round Ladoga was inhabited by Finnic people long before Slavs and Vikings came there.
Sad to see that Russia don't take care good about areas they conquered but still do keep conquering new territories.
YES
Everything Muscovy touches turns to shit.
Exactly
Fins were generally Swedish bedding. In 1809, Russia conquered Finland from Sweden. The Bolshevik government, which came to power in Russia as a result of the October Revolution, recognized Finland's independence on December 31, 1917. Learn history, not watch TV
@@Волосатыеруки I am talking about who lived there before Rurik arrived. It's in the books. Also that what was recognized as Finland 1917 was taken by Soviet 1939-1940 after Molotov Ribbentrop pact.
Have you seen how the towns in occupied Karelia looks like and compared them with those on the other side of the border? Sounds like you are the one watching Russian TV. I don't even own a TV.
The reality is that Russia has too much land compared to their economy and population, to maintain the majority of towns and cities. For example this beautiful city of Vyborg has been let to decay, because there's no money / interest / local population to maintain it as it was before the Russian annexation.
@@ayapaiz226 It is as simple as that, meaning those are the proven issues. Solving the problem is whole another topic.
USA can't maintain most of its cities also. Most of EU towns that are not capitals or largest economic centers also look awful.
@@adrianobanak2824 not like russian cities 😂. Finland is a wonderful country and probably you did not watch videos of how it was under finnish control
In reality Russia could be as prosperous as Norway and could take care of even it's people on top of the cities, if it had joined human kind at some point of its history. Thank You Svetlana for your honesty.
Most of Russia is not maintained outside of a handful of showcase cities.
"Calling stealing doesn't cover all the details". Ask Ukrainians.
Hope Ukraine gives its land back to Poland, Romania, Hungary
Russian mir doesnt understand that we have moved on from the times of landgrabbing and are trying to establish some rules and laws to prohibit landgrabbing-wars from happening again. They just don’t get it, it seems. And it seems they have absolutely no culture for accountability and coming to terms with their past. Thats why they just repeat their unstable tsar rule again and again.
@@jrgenjrgensen5987 Serbia approves your comment. Give Kosovo back to Serbia then
@@gabrielbakalarz5722 I’m sorry, I have no power to do that
@@jrgenjrgensen5987 why America hasn’t been sanctioned then ? When nato attacks it’s fine with . You didn’t protest and put Serbian flag on your profile pic on fb , did you ?
The world is full of beautiful, charming, unforgettable places, steeped in history and culture and interesting stories about them...Thank you once again Svetlana, for introducing us to a few more, that most of us are not likely to get to know up close in our lifetime, but, at the same time, couldn't ask for a better tour guide to them than you yourself, and your lovely videos...🙏
Stolen City - indeed.
Stolen Brain - indeed.
I have known Vyborg since 1985 when I brought my first tour group, and had lunch at Hotel Druzhba before continuing to Leningrad.
Two years later I met a Leningrad guide there, and 2 years later we got married. We have a flat near Udelnaya in St Pete, so enjoy regular trips to Vyborg. It takes only an hour on the fast new electric train. Sometimes we stay at the Druzhba, sometimes we just make a day trip of it.
I know that the Finn's who moved back here after the Winter War ended in 1940 felt seethingly angry when they had to leave their homes after the Continuation War ended in 1944.
However as one comment by a family member who once lived there, Vyborg and Karelia are now Russian. That's an unfortunate fact, but it is reality. Before the war Finn's made a magnificent gift to the city and its people when they reconstructed Alvo Aalto's 1929 library. I love this place, and feel it represents reconciliation.
Sadly, as Svetlana points out, the fabric of the city is in a pitiful state. Moscow did provide funds for renovation, but the money was stolen by local politicians. One stole €20 million to pay a bribe to get into politics in Moscow. Sadly, misappropriation of funds is endemic in Russia. Vyborg has such potential, yet it is largely unrealised. I found the people open and friendly, however.
Monplaisir Park has also been grossly mismanaged. It's scandalous that such a wonderful place of natural beauty is under threat.
Thanks, Sveta. I enjoyed your report from Dixie supermarket. Very interesting, as I haven't been in St Petersburg since we came to bury my lovely mother-in-law just 4 days before the launch of a special military operation.
I miss St Petersburg and my Russian family and friends. I miss Vyborg. I hope the war ends soon, and peace returns so I too can return. But I fear this may still be several years away.
Merry 'Catholic' Christmas!
You may safely return right now. I am a part of a pretty large expat community in Saint Petersburg which consists of more than 200 people (Americans, Brits, French, Italians, Brazilians and so on) and everyone quite happy to live in Russia even at the present time. We chat regularly and even have some occasional meetings and no one has told about any problems except some taxi scam or dealing with local bureaucracy. The only 2 annoying things are the more expensive plane tickets since now you have to travel to Russia via Istanbul or Dubai and the need to bring cash since Western cards are not working.
@@PaulV. Good to know, and thank you for taking the time to write. I know things look very different from afar. I am not sure I really WANT to go back to SPB right now, but we shall see. My father-in-law is 84, lives for his fishing, but will not be with us for ever. We'll see what Marianna decides when the time comes.
@@christopherwebb7245 All the best!
@@PaulV.Есть и более короткая дорога - через Прибалтику. Эстония не закрыла свою границу.
Viborg is Finland!
SUre?
Я родился в Выборге, привет финский брат
So, you were born in Finland.
Vyborg has always been inhabited by finns and karelians. Until the winter war when thousands of finns and karelians had to evacuate and leave their homes. Now vyborg is just inhabited by russians and not the native people
native to europe are people of indo-european descent. finns and karelians are foreign to europe.
@@wilnur4846 lol, language group is different than genetics. Finns and karelians are balto-finnic people who have one of the highest precentage of indo-european dna alongside the baltics and russia
@@minnaorv russia, baltics and scandinavia, yes. but finns and karelians not
@@wilnur4846 INHABITED not owned. Finns and karelians lived there
После Выборгской резни 1918 года количество русских жителей Выборга стало стремиться к нолю. Или вам не хочется об этом вспоминать?
Или гордитесь - памятную монету выпустили к 100 летнему юбилею?
Finland is a beautiful country. 👍🏻
Vyborg is not Finland, anymore. The USSR stole it!
@@juhanivuorinen6981 yes, that was the point of my comment
But the nazis went to Petroskoi and burnt the houses!
yes we like Finland comrade, we like Ukraine and Poland too
It was liberated by Russia
Yes, it was stolen from us. My grandfather fought there like many others. One Finnish soldier was worth 10 Russians, because we were fighting for our own land.
bla bla lba ... That's just the result on the face and the story judged everyone. Fins are making the same mistakes now😉
Svetlana, I got SO excited when I saw you have a vlog. It's beautiful! The colour of the leaves. You were brave to go out and selfish me appreciated your photography skills! Lovely!
Everything is beautiful about this channel - esp. Svetlana!
The city where my mother was born and where she started school. As a Finn I would not call the city Finno - Russian as during autonomy it was a Finnish city and before WW2 totally evacuated to protect the people (Unlike Leningrad where Stalin let hundreds of thousands Russians die as human shields rather than evacuate them and protect the lives of the citizens). As all Finns left Viborg just like my mother, the city no longer was Finnish in any way, but became a totally Soviet city, and after the USSR collapsed in 1991 it became a totally Russian city. There is no such thing as Finno - Russian cities. Russia is an imperialist state, currently led by war criminals. Finland has nothing to do with Russia and therefore literally nothing is Finno - Russian and will never be. First Finnish and then Russian, two different and separate things.
Karjala takas 😂
Hear hear!
Well said...
A guy from country that was faithful ally of Nazi Germany and accomplice in war crimes against the people of Leningrad calls someone a war criminal🤣🤣 Get a grip of reality you arctic-alcoholic troll. But i agree with you in one thing...Russia and Finland have nothing in common (except the long border)...Russia is country of culture, art, poetry, science and sports...and Finland is...well....
1.2 million people died in the siege of Leningrad. It was carried out by the Nazis with the collaboration of Finland. Civilians were not used as shields, but the city was besieged with the goal of everyone being killed. At the end of the war it was handed over to the USSR as compensation by Finland. Personally I think the Finns paid little for helping in a genocide.
@@rurounnu If you bothered to look at a war time map, you would notice thet the Finnish troops were standing on the old border and If a citizen of Leningrad had managed to walk through those troops one would have entered only deeper in Finland. The Finnish troops did not block any connections between the city and the rest of the USSR and therefore Finland was not part of the siege of Leningrad. Finland was only protecting its own territory.
Viipuri was a beautiful city. I love Finland and it should belong to it. One of the few beautiful cities in Russia not looking soviet. I never understood why Russia always expand without having the interest or capability to mantain the places.
Actually, Russia is developing faster than most of the Western countries today, but thanks for the nice propaganda try.
I'll blame it on the communists, not current Russia. The current government is trying to renovate the buildings and making it a good city again, but what can you expect for a city that was left unattended for 50-60 years? Only real development started after 2005.
Im a patriotic finnish man. My both grandfathers fought in continuation war. And i personally have no interest in the "vyborg belongs to finland". Things happen, finland lost it and thats that. If everyone would want back what their country have lost we would all be in war.
My heritage is indeed from Viaborg. So its heartbreaking that its said that the ownership has shiwted between some countries while the people who used to be live there were finnish. Its all politics end of the day. Common people are forgot.
This is the case with many border areas... Poland is a good example of a country that often got partitioned by surrounding great powers as well.
А ваше сердце не раздирает тот факт, что Александр 1 в 1811 году передал русский город Выборг (с 1710 года) Финляндии, а вместе с ним и всю Выборгскую губернию?
Выборгская резня 1918 года душу не печалит? Финские концлагеря в Карелии, блокада Ленинграда? Финны активно помогали Германии в этом.
Дневник Тани Савичевой по ночам не снится? - "Савичевы умерли все" во время блокады.
Нет уж, больше не позволим!
Well, technically it was pro-Novgorod Republic aligned land of the Kareli tribes at first.
But town and castle were swedish, founded by swedish crusaders during the wars with Novgorod Republic in the late XIII.
After the Great Northern war Sweden agreed to cede the land and city to Russia.
Only in 1812 Viborg was transferred as sign of good relations to the first known autonomous recognised Finland as a separate state = formal union. The Grand duchy of Finland.
Only in the mid of XIX century population started to grow up from 2-3 thsnds. In 1861, the general plan for the development of Vyborg was approved, and new streets were laid out and parks were created on the site of the demolished fortifications of the old swedish town wall.
So modern city was founded and developed by russians, germans and swedes.
So yeah, my finnish vikings, sure.
Don't forget The Viipuri massacre of the russian population in 1918-19.
Viipuri, Vyborg was always since before 1939a city of us Finns. We were part of Sweden, yes. We remained also an autonomy in Russia about 100 years. Just the city and our country was never russified. Until the late czars tried. they failed.
In 1939 the Russians attacked with no reason, and stole our Karelia including Viipuri with their nazi pact.
Also St Petersburg was built on Finns land, but it is an ancient history.
And now the city once a prospering one is all in ruins.
For no reason? Russia will never forget about the Viipuri massacre. Its also a former Swedish town and Karelia is Novgorod Republic not Finland and never was.
First Novgorod's king was finnish descent.
@@wber3530 Rurik who founded Novgorod has a Finn dna. So actually whole country founded by Finn.
Rurik was no finn, he was Russian of swedish background. The Finns were still living in the forest and herding deer. They weren't sophisticated enough in nation building. It's like saying the great rulers of Sweden was a Sami because the Sami people live close by.
Thank you Svetlana! You used the correct words: "stolen" and "ruined"!
Viborg and other Finnish territories were unprovokedly conquered by force through Russian intervention because Russia believed that the Finnish border was too close to the major city of St. Petersburg, posing a security risk. As happens everywhere Russia conquers land from its neighbors, the city is now declining, and with it, its historical heritage is disappearing, which is very sad and regrettable.😢
In 90's finnish and russian scientists got to see the russian documents. According them Stalins motivation was equally to steal finnish assets. Later Putin closed the access to these archives. Maybe it was embarrassing..
learn about the Viipuri massacre before writing such bullshit
🤡
@@k1rin511 🤷♂️
> Unprovokedly
My man conviniently forgot soviet-finnish war of 1918-1920 with tryouts to take SPb as buffer territory.
Viipuri was built and inhabited by Finns. Viipuri was part of independent and sovereign Finland, as it had always been. Vyborg was part of Finland under the rule of the King of Sweden and Vyborg was part of Finland under the rule of the Tsar of Russia. Stalin and Hitler divided Poland and Finland between them and Stalin attacked Finland 1939 and looted 10% of Finland's surface area, including Vyborg. There is nothing ambiguous about this. 1991 Boris Jetsin would have sold Karelia back to Finland for 15 billion dollars. The Finns did not want to discuss the matter. Thank God.
Its Swedish town, Finland was a Swedish property before Russia gave it autonomy
It belongs to Finns not us Swedes@@wber3530
@@wber3530Finland was part of Sweden for over 600 years before the Russians but it was always Suomi land of the Finns. long time before swedes or slavs even where in the area.
@@wber3530 No, Finland was not a "Swedish property". People who live in Vyborg (90% Finnic) were Swedish citizens just like anybody else in Sweden. So it was not like Russian imperialism enslaving people's.
@@juhanivalimaki5418Swedish subjects. Not citizens.
Tragic town, no fate worse than to be annexed by the russian empire. Poverty and everything falling into disrepair
Then why is Russian economy been so much better than Ukraines since Ukraine is no longer part of Russia? Why is Crimea better now? Why is Mariupol better now?
@@Bronco-1776lol
Nyet Molotov! Нет, Молотов!
Viipuri is Finland 🇫🇮
Nyet Mannerhaim! Finns eat lead in 1918, when they invaded RSFSR.
Did you know that after the Orcs took over Viipuri, only a couple of hundred people had stayed, while the rest of the almost 100 000 inhabitants having fled. What happened to those couple of hundred people? You guessed it, they were sent to the gulag!
did you know that almost 40k people were placed in Finnish concentration camps (the equivalent of the gulag is only Finnish) and this is only the civilian population, including children. I don’t count 60k prisoners of war. half of all prisoners died.
@@Notrusbot that's 100% fiction.
@@Notrusbotpoor communist soviets were placed in concentration camps after destroying the whole finno-ugric population of Karelia and Ingria , so sad😢
@@DrDeagle Of course, everything that is not about the USSR and Russia is a lie. about Finnish concentration camps of the early 20th century after the civil war in Finland, during the Second World War. you don't even try to look for this information
@@zamzadown Of course, you won’t provide links to information about the composition of the population at the beginning of the 20th century, we’ll just take your word for it
That city looks like your average city in Sweden/Finland. It's absolutely amazing, and to see that train cart with signs in both Finnish and Swedish on it is so cool. I love that they played that song in that cute little shop. And Glögg is the best. I could drink it endlessly.
If it hadn't been for the russian signs, it'd be a nordic city by all means. I hope they shape up and stop letting it fall apart....
It looks like an average town here if not maintained well.
Yes, it looks like average Nordic, boring town. Cold, gray, small, provincial, nothing to see and nothing to do. Russia has much more beautiful cities to visit.
@@adrianobanak2824 If kept well it could be fine. Right there are 2 cities that are better rest is provincial backwards with lousy roads and houses crumbling, water pipes bursting, heating failing in winter, shit flowing into rivers, nature polluted. Different from Russia Nordic countries keep after all cities and towns not only where the elite lives and steals from the people.
@@mikatimonen5449I wonder where did you find all that nonsense. Even Svetlana's channel has videos from like a dozen different Russian towns including a really small town in Siberia she is originally from. And while most are certainty not as magnificent as Moscow or Saint Petersburg (which from my pov are among the top-10 cities in the whole world), all those towns are clean, safe, have developed infrastructure and a lot of attractions to visit.
@@PaulV. My Russian girlfriend who is from Murmansk. Also I watched guys who travelled around in Russia like Varlamov, Bald Ben and many others. Also some guys who report from where they live like Sergei in Vasya in the hay. Watch them and then say it's nonsense. And I am not talking about safety, unless you are migrant worker from Central Asia, but delayed houses, poorly maintained infrastructure (roads, pipes for central heating, water, sewage etc) and not in top 10 Russian cities or central places in cities. Go where foreigners, Svetlana and those you watched never go. You can use google maps to see for yourself many places if you cannot go yourself. Not saying all places are in decay but saying patriotical lies that there is no such places and that there are no problems is laughable. There is no such paradise country in the world. Even a country with lot of natural resources have their problems even if their nationalists say there isn't and if there is something then it's some other countries fault. Such idiots sadly exist in every country and Russia is no exception.
Russians really polluted this town. What a shame, hope it will be back in Finland one day 🇫🇮
one day finland wiil be back to sweden!
Well, you had your try with nazis, btw participated in Siege of Leningrad, now you with NATO and Helsinki is the first target for nuke. Sill want something? And for polluted town - look at your new ghost city - Lapperanta. And something interesting you can watch on physics map: Russia (Karelia) - all in woods - Finland border - less and no woods, sold in Europe as I know, well done.
Сейчас в Выборге началось строительство и реставрация.
И он останется русским
@@sportsport9470почему в Швецию? Шведы отказались в 1811 году. В Россию вернется
@@lassesuurmunne8340 more fakes plz
Thank you, Sveta! You brought back sweet childhood memories. Dad actually bought a tram just like you showed, and we used it as a summer cottage.
🌅🇫🇮🇷🇺
Vyborg is Finnish and belongs to Finland! 🇫🇮🇫🇮🇫🇮
It is Viipuri
Try and take it back😜
@@adrianobanak2824 Mentlity of crimal and thief. One word. Russia.
@@mariopigwa8538 i assume you are from Europe? If you are, you are the last one allowed to speak about theft, because Europe owes it's riches to Africa, South America and Asia...all of those ex-colonies that were robbed by Europeans for centuries.
@@adrianobanak2824 i assume you are Sancho Pancho from Banana Republika de San Escobar ruled by colonel Lopez. I want to remind you that Europeans brought civilization to America. Unfortunately, some people from South America have been fooled by leftists who have made most of these countries third world.
I wanted to hug the cat so much! The swedish old song so funny! And i also like this stile of old houses, we must all live in this kind of town!
Torkel Knutsson.led the Third Swedish Crusade to Finland against the pagan Karelians in 1293. The target of the Swedish attack was the harbor and marketplace at Soumenvedenpohja, later known as Vyborg. The place was key to the West Karelians' trade and exchange with the outside world, and even before the arrival of the Swedes there was an older Karelian fortification there.
Это так.. А еще карелы вместе с новгородцами завоевали Ситгуну, ворота из которой сейчас в новгородской Софии.
Viipuri was all ways Finnish city built by finns lived in by Finns for hundreds of years even when it was part of Sweden or Russia. The Finnish people have lived in the area for thousands of years way before the swedes then the slaves came around.
I need to read first I can comment on whose it belongs to but you have made an amazing, honest, informative video.🎉
I can see that you created this video with love for us finns while not forgetting the swedes either, with some special touch ❤Thank you for this. You are amazing! It's a shame I never visited this city while it is so close to the border. It seems to be in better condition than I expected actually and very beautiful in many ways indeed. When it comes to history I don't want to carry on the hateful feelings. From what I understand people in Russia do not have such feelings towards us.
Thats such a heartwarming comment among all that bitterness in the thread. I live in Saint Petersburg (although I ve moved there from NYC a long time ago) and dont know a single Russian who is hostile to Finland here. Its just the opposite - people are really sad that politicians destroyed relationships between two countries, they miss Finnish tourists and miss visiting Finland as well.
@@PaulV. It's nice to hear all that from someone who lives there. Thanks!
Приезжайте. Границу закрыла Финляндия, мы будем рады туристам. Сейчас к нам в Санкт-Петербург можно приехать через Эстонию.
Viipuri used to be one of the wealthiest and cleanest cities of all Finland. It seems like Russians don't take good care of it (in these days there are poverty, dirtiness and the places are worn out).
😢Sad😢the owners of the beautiful buildings don’t show pride of ownership by keeping them repaired or maintained or painted…I enjoyed your narrative, history lesson, and sight seeing. .
If you start with no honor, the honor will never grow there
@@timogronroos4642 Nazi collaborators taking about honor...
I hope this lands will be returned to Finland one day
In that day the Carelia is joined to Finland, all stolen houses, apartments, forests and fields must be given back to the inheritors of those Finnish people, who were the legal owners of this property before WW2.
In Estonia, in all Baltic countries, in Ukraine and in all Soviet occupied countries this is already done long ago. The privatization of the property done started in the year 1991 when these countries got back their independence and the property the communist had taken started to find back to their legal owners.
But in Finnish Carelia the privatization is not yet done.
Actually the privatization should be done right away, no matter if the area is belonging to Russia or in Finland. Because the legal owners of each house are living in Finland. Every people living now in Viipuri should have asked that whose house you are living? How much did you pay for your house? So far todays inhabitants there haven´t paid anything yet. Everything they have now is stolen from Finnish people who once lived in Viipuri.
Keep hoping, actually coping...
@@MikaRautio Actually based on international laws the ownership of all land and buildings in Karelia belongs to those Finns who lived there before. International laws say wars might change borders, but private property is protected. There was actually such a court case started in Vyborg, and the judge was understanding, but then Moscow told the court case must be ended immediately.
@@MikaRautioМика, мы заплатили за всё это. Заплатили кровью и даже не солдат, а 1 миллиона 200 тысяч мирных жителей Ленинграда, многих тысяч узников финских концлагерей в Карелии.
Лучше забудь. Это теперь Россия.
According to the book The Winter War, following this war 20,000 Finns were given the opportunity to stay in Vyborg, but every single Finn relocated to Finnish territory. living under Stalin would be as bad as living under Putin; or maybe the same. .
The video has very good definition! The bark and leaves looked so deep! Nice work!
No, it was stolen.
It was liberated
"stolen"?
did you listen abba - winner takes it all?
lgbt clown
Yes, Russia stole Karelen from Finland. Thet is Russias MO. They stole the whole of Finland once, from Sweden (it was a part of Sweden for 600 years before that, from the time any kingdoms existed in that area), when they for a short while sided with Napoleon.
As far as I know, there were no ethnic Russians living there, so what was their excuse that time?
So you were Swedens bit..es for 600 years? How was that? So, if finland was part of Sweden why it is a country today and not a province of Sweden? Russians are gone from finland since 1918.
@@briantravelman It was to "protect Leningrad from a possible German invasion through Finland". Such an invasion of Germans through Finland eventually happened specifically because USSR started the Winter War. The Winter War was a pointless war caused by Stalin's paranoid mind.
Thank you for the video. 100 km from St Petersburg and city looks like that😬ouch.
From 🇫🇮
hope it will be karelian state and part of finland in coming years !
Надейся лучше на Бога, чтоб подарил тебе мозги
Only if Finland becomes a part of Russia again.
Dreaming is not harmful
@@LloydChristmas983нет, даже если Финляндия станет частью России - Выборг снова передавать не надо. Хватит и 1811 года.
Sad to see..
Indeed
You did stole it
This was russian land untill Sweden stole it. They just took it back.
@@StekTM1 Karelian Finns lived there long before ANY russians or Swedes.
@@rudolfox4142 Karelians are not the same as finns. Finland had them in concentration camps before 1939... remember
@@StekTM1 I'm Finnish-Karelian and you are one liar. Finns treated Karelians as one of Finnish tribe - as they are - and equals to them in every way. Russians were in camps tough.
who cares who you are. europe is indo-european,but you some finno ugric karelian asians. you dont belong, neither to "finnland", not to russia and not to europe at all.
Thank you, beautiful video🥹 Viipuri looks very much like Helsinki, but almost frozen in time
A good history lesson, my parents are Finns so I liked it a lot.
Regarding the past fighting, I believe Peter the Greats creation of Petersburg was the big issue.
The Russians had very little interest in the Baltic area, then with the new super city they changed their view,
How many Kms from Viipurii to Pietaari?
They are close... Supposedly the new mega cannons of 100 years ago were in range.
Plus the Bolshy's started in Petersburg.
There was a town before St. Petersburg aswell, called Nyen.. & as a sidenote, St. Petersburg was initially largely built by slave labour, taken from the eastern parts of Sweden, ie what today is Finland. 🧐
Yes I agree, however Peters interest in Baltic trade and tech made one of the worlds great cities for the people.
And it change their direction of interest.@user-yp2mw2ko9k
I love the peace and the way you produce the videos. They are very relaxing. Thanks for sharing!
wonerful job on this especially pointing out despite all th e pain its the lowest among us who suffer most --- keep up good work !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The town will only be as good and well preserved as you want it and the generation of Russia that is young. This video is one step in that direction by showing us a bit of history and also the beautiful places in this little town. It is now part of the Russian federation and becomes yours to take care of.
Thanks you for sharing and take care.
I read an article that money was allocated to help preserve the castle, but most of it was embezzled.
warm greetings to you; another fine excursion you have presented
tour tip guy - I have pcs from Kronstadt...and I think Minsk central was a bit like toompea in Tallinn
Keep removing comments?
Thank you for acknowledging the fact it's a Finnish city. One day it will return to Finland. After almost century of Russification we will make it great again.
Surely will be filled with inmigrants and some mosques will be build!..How you seen what Scandinavian cities has become?..
No, not anymore. It's past time for mosques. Finland has been awakened.@@rhodium1096
I would love to see it a part of Finland again. But since its original population of Karelen had to flee or be deported by Stalin it was made “Finn-frei” by the Soviets. So it would be hard to do. Huge democratic and logistical problems.
But maybe the population there today would prefer to be a part of Finland and the EU. Maybe. Taking over would also be extremely expensive for Finland. But it could be worth it, I guess, in the long run.
@@rhodium1096Finland has not the same problems as Sweden and Denmark to assimilate a large group of immigrants that came during a short time. So no. You can’t compare Finland with for example Sweden in that regard. The numbers are very, very different.
@@tomasarfert Karelians like Finnish and Estonians are Finno Ugric/Baltic!..so they belong to Uralic lenguage and the third Russian ethnicity behind Slavs and Tatars. so be happy that Russia are not claiming all Finland and Estonian territory.
It definitely has an "Old World"feel to it!Also the background music does!👍
Much is actually preserved the way it was when the soviet tanks rolled in to the town in 44, accompanied by heavy shelling of the outnumbered finnish defenders. Luckily the civilians was evacuated west in time. This is one reason why we understand very well what Ukraine is going through.
@AlfaGiuliaQV Thanks for the eye opener..Now I better understand
Be safe and warm,,, Happy new year and wishing you all the best in 2024🎉
Tack! Kiitos spazchiba ❤thank You so much
Thank you!🙂
Wow! That place was absolutely beautiful. Thanks for the video. Hair goddess is a fitting name because your hair is amazing. Hope you are doing well and have a wonderful season.
Yeah, it was. Until russia took it. Like everything russians steal, they turn it to shit.
Svetlana,thanks for sharing …I have visited this town …such a pity that it’s not preserved and restored better …but it is a beautiful place …until next time …Alex🇬🇷
Crimea and Vyborg actually have two things in common: 1. Both are temporarily occupied by Russia and 2. neither of them ever in history had Russian majority population before 1944 deportation of the original peoples (Finns from Vyborg, Tatars from Crimea).
Yes but Vyborg had virtually no Russian minority at all. It was pretty completely an ethnic Finnish city. Perhaps there were also some Swedish speaking Finns. There's propabably more ethnic Russians in modern Lappeenranta...
Увадаемые Юхан с болота и Йонас! Крым был русским во времена крещения Руси - это более 1000 лет назад. Потом был утрачен и вновь завоеван Екатериной2 в 1783 году. И татары там уже не были большинством.
Выборг был основан шведами на землях карел, которые были данниками Новгорода. И в 1710 году он снова стал русским городом.
Почему Александр 1 в 1811 году передал Выборгскую губернию (не только Выборг) Великому княжеству Финляндскому - не знаю. Но Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин эту ошибку исправил.
Поэтому у Крыма и Выборга есть общее - они около 300 лет русские. И таковыми останутся.
@@ИванГригорьев-л5ы Bullshit. Vyborg was built by Finns (the time that Finns were part of Sweden). The builders AND the inhabitants were speaking Finnish. There was never Swedish nor Russian population in the city. The highest bosses Swedish/Swedish speaking Finns yes, but the main population was Finnish.
Remember, if you have Russian history 'education' it is same as knowing nothing about history. Why? Russian history was written during Soviet Union, everything was written to whitewash Russian war crimes from Second World War.
e.g. "Lenin donated independence to Finland." Never happened, the contrary. But this was written to the Russian history 'education' in 1950s to explain how it wasn't that bad that Russians attacked Finland 1939. As Finnish independence was 'gift from Lenin' anyway. It wasn't.
Finns marched 1917 to Piter and demanded independence. Lenin HAD to agree as White Russia was still a threat. But same time Lenin sent thousands of rifles to Finland to organize a coup against democratically elected Finnish government and told Stalin how Finland will be soon (1918) joined back to Soviet Russia.
If someone wants to learn real history, has to start by burning all Russian 'history' books.
@@juhanivalimaki5418Тем не менее - Ленин дал независимость, как ни крути.
О финском основании Выборга. Вполне вероятно, что камни носили финны, вернее карелы. Но замок построили шведы. А о том чьими руками - мало кто вспоминает.
@@ИванГригорьев-л5ы Again, not Swedes. Finns. Finns were part of Sweden then. The people who lived and built Vyborg were Finnish. Speaking Finnish. Only higher officers and officials were Swedish, not even all of them.
Svetlana, thank you for all your videos. Keep up the lovely and wonderful work!
That is the coolest squirrel I've ever seen!!! More please!
love birch trees! What a frigid walk; loved the bridge of birch.
I visited Vyborg and some other places in the stolen karelia in 2013. It was so shocking to see in how bad condition the infrastructure (being old Finland) was compared to how we have here in Finland. Yet it was really interesting, its a pity russia is what it is with putler, so as long as things wont change, will never go back there again.
We dont need fools in our country
Yes, it's a pity that Russia is a country developing faster than all G7 countries ATM... but nice propaganda try buddy
@@LloydChristmas983 xDDDDDD what drugs u have took? 😂😂
@@royalty4611 just look at the GDP growth stats clown
I'll blame it on the communists, not current Russia. The current government is trying to renovate the buildings and making it a good city again, but what can you expect for a city that was left unattended for 50-60 years? Only real development started after 2005.
I guess in that case New York City is still New Amsterdam… what a beautiful blend of differing architectures, Sveta! Hopefully there will eventually be a push to help preserve Vyborg for many years to come… thanks again!
Can you name the war between the British and the Dutch that resulted in New Amsterdam becoming New York? No? Seems like the Russians have a long history of waging territorial wars of aggression against their neighbors. The Winter War with Finland is a good example. Can you think of a more modern example? Perhaps Ukraine? Or maybe the invasion of Poland in 1939 with the help of their ally Nazis Germany?
Nieuw-Amsterdam.
@@gerhard6105And before that it was New Sweden.
@@mikatimonen5449 not that exact area. New Sweden was south of New Nederland. We took your area and later the English took all the area. Then we took it back for a year. Then we had to give it to the English.
@@gerhard6105 But before new Netherlands still.
New Sweden was conquered by the Dutch Republic in 1655 during the Second Northern War and incorporated into the Dutch colony of New Netherland.
One of your best vlogs!❤
Thank you for your very professional high quality content. Well done.
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much!😃
The USSR didn't "steal" Vyborg, it literally STOLE it (without quotes). Your thumbnail was telling enough for me to NOT WATCH YOUR VIDEO. Slava Ukraini!
Svetlana,you did a good job on this commentary..
Expect eagerly.shamim💏👏🤼♂️
Some people prefer to forget that Finland had been a part of Sweden for centuries with not many rights and a language suppression rules. After that it became a part of the Russian Empire for over a century with all privileges before the Bolsh acquired power.. Lenin granted independence to Finland for the first time in its long history.
Right now the situation with this small and beautiful town is not great because of the lousy and corrupt local leadership it has had for number of years. And it will not last much longer. I know that, I grew up in this town when it looked gorgeous.
Hmm.. That's a rather tainted view of history that you present aswell..🧐
It was the same laws all over Sweden, including Finland, up to Russia conquered it in the early 19 hundreds. However Finland kept Swedish laws after it, with way more freedom than for the rest of Russia, with free farmers and more freedom of speech and so on. But that sort of ended ca 1880-1910, when the state wanted to start a Russification process. Luckily for Finland Russia was beaten in WW1, and the communists (supported by Lenin) lost the civil war in Finland. Otherwise there would not be a Finland today.
… anyway, the laws and rights both in Finland and Sweden has been almost the same for a very long time. Even during most of the 19th century.
The privileges for Finland was, in other words, “you can keep your Swedish laws …. For now”. Then Alexander III wanted to change that. And started to take the rights away, one by one. Stupid move, that only made the people of Finland wanting to have their own nation more.
Damn! I love those Russian squirrels with the long fluffy ears, esp. the ones with black and red mixed fur. We need to import some of those.
we want watch laatokka lake too what they stole biggest lake of eu,please wisit there filming
The song 8:00 is a norweigian song called "musevisa" but it sounds like they are singing the swedish version of the song.
What is it about?
@@SVETLANAFROMRUSSIA it's about mice celebrating Christmas. Here is the swedish version ruclips.net/video/ttKXAny1VYM/видео.html
Merci du partage, vidéo intéressante.
Russia is only good at stealing from other countries but can’t maintain what they have! I have visited Russia before and unfortunately the country is very poor once you get out of the main cities. I’m sure that the Finnish people would take much better care of this area. Thanks for your honesty
Polish? You stole half of German territory...
I'll blame it on the communists, not current Russia. The current government is trying to renovate the buildings and making it a good city again, but what can you expect for a city that was left unattended for 50-60 years? Only real development started after 2005. Russian cities are now developing at a fast rate, even outside of the main cities. 20 years ago we used to stand in lines to get piece of bread in the morning, there were no roads in Russia, just mud piles.
It is so sad that russia took vyborg
Thanks!
Thank you, Michel😘
Russia has stolen lots of different things from many different groups of people, and they continue to do this. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Tell us how America stole Texas, about the British occupation of the north of Ireland, about the Turkish occupation of half of Cyprus? No? Of course, only the Russians are the eternal culprits and the only evil, you disgusting Nazis!
😂🌍🏦🇬🇧🇺🇸🇪🇺🏴☠️🏳️🌈🤺🇷🇺
Someone needs a hug 😂
Under your definition of stolen please point me towards a society that hasn't
Apparently according to my American World Book Encyclopaedia Russia was originally called RUS.
Also Ukraine was the first Russian state.
What a shocker that was. It's typed right there in am American Encyclopaedia.😂
What's also interesting is most if not all the Baltic States were once all Soviet or Russian.
I don't care, all I care about is a good leader.
Cheap electricity, cheap oil, cheap gas. This all affects our life. This is why it's so tough in Australia now. Also our oligarchs don't care enough.
Next 80 years and town will be more Russian. We have our memories, golden ones.
Very pretty little town
Let's be precise. Legally the Sovibet Union has not stolen Viipuri from Finland. But Finland did not sign the two treaties from 1940 and 1945 volutarily. It did so, because there was no alternative. Especially in 1939/1940 the Fins fought bravely and the Red Army had massive casualties. But of course at the end, the small Finish army had no chance against the human waves of the Soviet Red Army. The continuation war between 1941 and 1944, that led to a new treaty with even more losses than back in 1940, was a mistake of Finland. Finland allied with Nazi-Germany to get back Finish-Karelia. This fired back when Germany was losing the war. However, I would not consider it impossible that Karelia will one day be part of Finland again. Since the 15th century the Russian territory has grown like a tumor and the Russian space now contains territories where ethnic Russians are a minority. If the situation in Russia becomes unstable in terms of economy and demography, then those minorities may try to break away from Moscow. And this could then be a "chance" for China to get back Outer Mandchuria. In such a chaos, maybe people of Karelia may want to join Finland - who knows?
you said very well, this is the truth
Sure Finland is rich for its tiny population, but do you seriously believe it has the economy to integrate and rebuild one of the poorest regions in Europe? Besides it's not even Karelian anymore, so why should we care? It's the Russian government's job to take care of its land and people, not ours lol.
Molotov-Ribbentrop pact 1939 USSR/NaziGermany was first. Hitler and Stalin were/are best friends.
Let's face the fact that without massive American help the Soviet Union would have been ran over in WWII.
Dream on buddy.
Beautiful video.
That cat is not poor, he seems well nunourished. But really cute!
I was born a few km from there but never visited. I have been to 3 corners of Siberia and lived in Ukraine and Belarus tho :)
So it looks pretty normal there. From the videos I watch coming out of Russia. Alot different then what the news says.
thank you for explaining
It’s complicated..I guess beauty IS everywhere..your English is excellent..and I admit you look like American or European actress, .a movie star or TV star..like I said ..it’s complicated..the explaining of it..would take all day..unpretentious..unassuming..down to earth..refreshing..
ginormous, I had to look it up -
nice place reminds me of york in england and beautiful as always 😍😍
That was inspiring, take me there 👍
Thanks for sharing Svetlana.👸🌹 Vyborg looks amazing. love the fall colors. Love💖 your channel Happy Holiday with you friend and family. Cheers 🥨🥨🍷🍷🎅
Thank you, Svetlana, for showing us this part of the world, which I never would see otherwise.
One day the change will come. Lets not fight each other ever again. It is in top of the pyramid where the evil lies.
Great video, never been to russia, yet love russia, thanks for sharing