The strangest thing about Putin’s appearance on Finland’s secret criminal blacklist

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm0f4iSnNtQ]   On Wednesday we received the bizarre news that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s name had mistakenly ended up on a secret criminal blacklist compiled by Finnish police. Those placed on the list face automatic detainment at the Finnish border and up to six months in prison. Flustered Finnish law enforcement officials have been ...

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm0f4iSnNtQ]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm0f4iSnNtQ]

 

On Wednesday we received the bizarre news that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s name had mistakenly ended up on a secret criminal blacklist compiled by Finnish police. Those placed on the list face automatic detainment at the Finnish border and up to six months in prison.

Flustered Finnish law enforcement officials have been quick to apologize and remove Putin’s name from the register. But what’s more interesting is how Putin’s name ended up alongside bosses of organized crime in the first place.

Apparently, this debacle is all thanks to Putin’s ties to the Nochnye Volki, or Night Wolves — a biker gang in Moscow that he is known to ride with on occasion (see video above). Though a biker gang and Vladimir Putin might seem like good fit, his relationship with this particular gang is more than a little ironic. Founded in the 1980s to defend rock musicians’ right to perform uncensored “anti-Soviet” concerts, the Night Wolves claim to fight for freedom and reject the law. Yet Vladimir Putin, who called Pussy Riot’s protest songs a threat to Russia’s moral foundation and threw its members in jail, has chosen this biker gang to ride around with? How does either side justify that partnership?

It’s unclear whether the Night Wolves are actually dangerous enough to warrant a place on Finland’s blacklist. According to the Guardian, a member of the Wolves was involved in a shootout against a rival gang in November, “allegedly as part of a feud over the Wolves’ establishment links.” As the Guardian points out, it seems the Putin-Night Wolves relationship hasn’t worked out too well for either party.

Elizabeth Ralph is a researcher at Foreign Policy.

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