Finland's Largest Newspaper Faces Treason Charges For Publishing Leaked Files On Spy Ops Targeting Russia | Zero Hedge
Description: A bizarre story of a police raid on a Finnish journalist's home is drawing international attention, especially as it occurred in a country known for its protection of press freedoms.
Keywords: Zero Hedge,Zerohedge,Finance,Economics,Markets,Politics,Analysis,Finland,national security,Newspaper,Norway,Reuters,SPY
Date: 2017-12-18T00:00:00Z

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# Finland's Largest Newspaper Faces Treason Charges For Publishing Leaked Files On Spy Ops Targeting Russia

by Tyler Durden
Dec 18, 2017 2:44 PM
0
SHARES

A bizarre story of a police raid on a Finnish journalist's home is drawing international attention, especially as it occurred in a country known for its protection of press freedoms. The journalist is Laura Halminien from Finland's largest daily newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, where she published a bombshell investigative report on Saturday based on previously leaked documents connected to a Finnish intelligence operation which closely monitors Russian military movements just across the border in the St. Petersburg region.

The report gave details of Finish Defense Intelligence Agecy (VKoeL) secretive facilities and ongoing operations regarding surveillance of Russia, with special focus on a signals surveillance complex in the city of Tikkakoski in central Finland. The Tikkakoski complex is said use a high tech and advanced monitoring system to observe Russian military maneuvers based on electromagnetic radiation.

Main offices for Finland's largest daily newspaper, which is now under investigation over the leaks. Image source: Hakaniemi

The unusual police search occurred on Sunday evening, when authorities showed up the journalist's home without a warrant, yet in response to a possible fire. According to Reuters the series of events unfolded as follows:

> Finnish police searched a reporter’s home and seized her computer after she tried to destroy the hard drive to protect sources linked to a security story, her newspaper reported. The journalist, Laura Halminen, said she tried to smash up her computer with a hammer in her home, but the laptop then started smoking and she called the fire brigade, according to an interview published by her employer Helsingin Sanomat.

> Police officers who came to her home with the fire service to investigate the blaze then took her computer and searched her property, police said...

In a subsequent interview with her newspaper Halminen said that she "wanted to destroy the computer to ensure that the source of the information is well-protected.” As the Saturday article was based on leaked 'top secret' intelligence files - some of them reportedly going back ten years - the newspaper faces a criminal investigation over obtaining and publishing the documents.

According to the Helsinki Times, Finland's president, Sauli Niinistö, took the unusual step of publicly slamming the newspaper for compromising national security. Niinistö said in a brief statement, "Secret documents have been handed over to Helsingin Sanomat. A criminal investigation has been initiated on that. Exposing the content of highly classified documents is critical to our security and could result in serious damage."

But also according to the Helsinki Times, the investigative story - which was the first installment in a planned series on the sensitive program - is about much more than a spy operation targeting Russia, but about Finland's domestic spy capabilities. The Helsinki Times reports:

> According to Helsingin Sanomat, the main reason behind publishing the article and exposing the classified documents now is the new bill being prepared for the Finnish parliament to give this facility and other security police agencies authority to survey internet communications inside the country. The article includes images of documents with "Top Secret" stamps on the top, from 1999.

Saturday's front page from Finland's largest daily, Helsingin Sanomat, purporting to show a secretive Finnish spy facility which targets Russia.

Similar to the 2013 revelations of NSA domestic warrantless monitoring of Americans' communications (based on the Edward Snowden leaks), Helsingin Sanomat reporters see the Finish Defense Intelligence Agecy program as potential excuse for spying on Fins while citing ambiguous "reasons of national security".

The newspaper's editor-in-chief, Kaius Niemi, told Finnish media that the four hour police search of his journalist's house was "outright exceptional" as Finland prides itself as a world leader in press freedom. The group Reporters Without Borders recently ranked Finland as third in its 2017 World Press Freedom Index (behind its Scandinavian neighbors Sweden and Norway). Niemi also stated, “I believe these events are very disconcerting when it comes to the operational preconditions of the press and the protection of sources [in Finland].”

Meanwhile, the Defense Committee of Russia's State Duma issued a statement expressing surprise at the revelations of advanced Finnish spy technology stationed along Finnish-Russian border. According to Sputnik:

> "We always say that we are ready to build good-neighborly relations. We did not expect something like this from our colleagues in Finland, if this information is confirmed," first deputy chairman Andrei Krasov told the Gazeta.ru media outlet, calling the intelligence-gathering center's mission a "rather unexpected move."

As there's more to the investigative series that was scheduled to come out after Saturday's story, the newspaper could potentially succumb to the political pressure unleashed in the wake of the initial report and decide to halt publication of the rest of the series. In addition to the country's president, a number of Finnish parliamentarians have reacted fiercely, citing threats to national security.

In response the newspaper has issued an open letter which, while defending the decision to publish, also admitted that it could have done a better job in preparing the public and lawmakers on explaining why the story is vital to the health and democracy of the country.

- SPY
- Reuters
- Finland
- Norway
- national security
- Newspaper

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I am Groot Dec 18, 2017 3:06 PM

Wow, that stupid bitch just gave away the milk and the cow for free to the Ruskis. Sounds like she must be a student of Hillary. I wonder if this journalist has a server in her basement too.

RedPillGirl I am Groot Dec 18, 2017 3:10 PM

Stupid all right, but the Scandinavian leaks are the best.

Jenny Skavlan Nude Leaked

http://celebrity-leaks.net/jenny-skavlan-nude-leaked/

NoDebt RedPillGirl Dec 18, 2017 3:14 PM

Tyler. what's with the porn trolls lately? Are we trying to chase off the only three women who come to ZH and turn this place into a total sausage party?

I already know where to find good porn. Don't need or appreciate any help from the comment trolls for that.

Moski NoDebt Dec 18, 2017 5:17 PM

do women hate porn?

Fish Gone Bad RedPillGirl Dec 18, 2017 3:17 PM

They had been watching her for a while and had eavesdropped on her work.

AlexCharting RedPillGirl Dec 18, 2017 3:49 PM

Women LOVE to gossip..... Hillary, now this! NEVER GIVE THEM SECURITY CLEARANCE!

any_mouse AlexCharting Dec 18, 2017 3:51 PM

And men, such as General Petraeus, like to tell all to their mistresses.

Your point?

brazilian I am Groot Dec 18, 2017 3:11 PM

Good for her. Screw all spie agencies. Reveal everything! More power to Wikileaks and screw you idiotic "national Security".

RedPillGirl brazilian Dec 18, 2017 3:12 PM

Wonder if she a member of the tribe as most MSM pundits.

peddling-fiction I am Groot Dec 18, 2017 4:42 PM

Protection of the press (national spies) = yes.

Protection of unwanted free speech (me and a few other Finnish dissidents) = no

I am a Finn and most of my controversial comments to articles were erased on this newspaper.

I believe this is a ploy to tighten free speech even more, and legislate draconian laws (that are already being written about).

Action --> Response (with justification)

Rinse and repeat.

Crazy Or Not peddling-fiction Dec 18, 2017 4:58 PM

The age of Kali Yuga types are predicting a period of diminishing democracy and a shift towards more dictatorial values of governance. Somethings trending and its not an abundance of liberty & freedom.

peddling-fiction Crazy Or Not Dec 18, 2017 5:05 PM

If the Finnish government wants me silent, have the country I am residing in, accept my asylum request.

By law I could not engage in politics anywhere, if I were to receive it.

I am against Empire and Finland seems to be for it.

It is your call, Kalevi...

Crazy Or Not peddling-fiction Dec 18, 2017 5:17 PM

well Kaleva's sword should be in perfect alignment in a day or two. As the Samauri say:

“If you keep your sword drawn and wield it about then no one will dare approach you and you will have no allies. But if you never draw it, it will dull and rust and people will assume that you are feeble.”

The middle way has been suggested as a good path.

peddling-fiction Crazy Or Not Dec 18, 2017 5:38 PM

I have done my part warning my fellow Finns.

My focus will be placed on the spiritual aspects.

There is a middle way to my request as well.

No need for asylum if...

No fear folks.

Crazy Or Not peddling-fiction Dec 18, 2017 5:42 PM

Taken a spell of the greater loads in those realms, more to be achieved in nine worlds.

peddling-fiction Crazy Or Not Dec 18, 2017 5:56 PM

Nearly all of humanity is under their spell.

I removed the binding, with a lot of help from the three friends I admire the most.

But just like Job, I will be faithful till the end, this time around.

;-)

Crazy Or Not peddling-fiction Dec 18, 2017 6:04 PM

In the end all creatures must run wild.
we have seen The Hunt of The Unicorn and all its consequences.
Growing up is essentially Coming of Age. One cannot be lead, one must lead oneself,
such are the halls we travel.

tion peddling-fiction Dec 18, 2017 8:42 PM

I think it is possible

that if combined, the forces of

perunamakkara

pasties

and sauna

could defeat all of the evil in the world ^^

MoreFreedom I am Groot Dec 18, 2017 3:58 PM

You don't think the Russians are aware of which of their communications are open to being intercepted?

And don't you think the Russians knowing they're being watched, won't help them act above board in a civilized fashion?

I don't see anything the Russians were given and didn't likely already know.

I'd say the real crime, is exposing people in government who'd prefer to remain secret so no one attacks their funding.

lincolnsteffens I am Groot Dec 18, 2017 4:17 PM

Who would call the Fire Department to put out a computer fire unless it was spreading elsewhere fast? What, no snow in Finland to dump it out the window into? No oven to shut the door and slow it way down?

She invited them in.

RedDwarf lincolnsteffens Dec 18, 2017 6:05 PM

Yeah, plausible deniability was my thought as well, too strange as written.

Hell, if I was a journalist I would have that stuff on a heavily encrypted drive anyway.

DisorderlyConduct I am Groot Dec 18, 2017 5:11 PM

Should have wiped it. With a cloth or something.

I mean how stupid does someone have to be? Remove hard drive. Open it. Sandpaper the drive platters. But hammer the PC? Really?

She deserves full punishment of law for being an idiot.

JustPrintMoreDuh Dec 18, 2017 3:07 PM

Should have taken a page out of Hildabeasts book and wiped it clean with a cloth.

NoDebt Dec 18, 2017 3:09 PM

"tried to smash up her computer with a hammer in her home, but the laptop then started smoking and she called the fire brigade"

I'm running this story like a movie in my head. I haven't even added the Swedish Chef from the Muppets to it yet and it's already funny.

peddling-fiction NoDebt Dec 18, 2017 3:19 PM

"tried to smash up her computer with a hammer in her home, but the laptop then started smoking and she called the fire brigade"

Sounds like BS to me.

NotApplicable peddling-fiction Dec 18, 2017 3:40 PM

She obviously smashed the lithium battery, and it went full Tesla.

peddling-fiction NotApplicable Dec 18, 2017 3:53 PM

Finns are pretty smart people.

Journalists tend to be spies, whether they know it or not.

Yes the battery would "fire up" if deformed, but journalists get special training on data management.

Hard to believe that.

Implied Violins peddling-fiction Dec 18, 2017 4:26 PM

She will get off with charges dropped, probably get a nice bonus, then anyone following her doing the same will get the fuckhammer after laws making this shit illegal are passed.

Some things just never change: false flags, false fags, and false mags.

peddling-fiction Implied Violins Dec 18, 2017 4:39 PM

Yeah, she is taking a hit for the team.

Jultorsk peddling-fiction Dec 18, 2017 4:50 PM

Finns are pretty smart yes, but this is a Finnish female journalist which is a notoriously ignorant breed.. According to her twitter she's exactly the hysterical sort who sees neonazis everywhere. I have no doubts about this Muppet story being true - she was quite detailed in her own words about the hammering. What other classified documents were stored at her home, in her ordinary (unsafe) laptop which likely had been attached to various open unsecured wifis in various hipster cafés around Helsinki and elsewhere, while she was sipping a nice cinnamon latte and pondering her latest "what I thought today and how did it make me feel" journalism masterpiece. This is simply a massive clusterfu*k of incompetence from Helsingin Sanomat.

Crazy Or Not peddling-fiction Dec 18, 2017 5:05 PM

If she had a hard wired fire detection system in an apartment. It's likely it would autodial the fire service. Plausable?
Order of events often gets a makeover in Police's favour in the critical sequence of an unfolding situation.
(also YES! Data Management skills, though if they were breaking down the door, she'd go mission critical on source material).

TheReplacement Crazy Or Not Dec 18, 2017 7:38 PM

If anything made sense it would have been that she kept the data on a (COTS) small and easy to conceal device that was encrypted and shielded. No data should have been on the laptop whatsoever.

Who is really behind those expensive encrypted USB drives anyway?

any_mouse NotApplicable Dec 18, 2017 4:03 PM

Pull the battery, remove the HDD/SSD, remove the DIMM/SIMM.

Bake the drive's remains in an oven.

Microwave the memory chips.

Implied Violins any_mouse Dec 18, 2017 4:28 PM

Better remove the BIOS and probably the whole motherboard as well, as many chips now have keystroke loggers embedded. Then, she needs to give a hefty bribe to the NSA.

ANYTHING ever typed on a computer is traceable, anytime, anywhere by .gov's.

peddling-fiction Implied Violins Dec 18, 2017 4:55 PM

Many modern CPU's have 3G modems integrated in them, for the BIOS to interact with spooks.

King of Ruperts Land peddling-fiction Dec 18, 2017 5:27 PM

I use all North Korean computers. Totally spy proof. All my data is on punched cards now.

RationalLuddite peddling-fiction Dec 18, 2017 6:20 PM

Link? While possible , i am very skeptical about this, despite posting not dissimilar recently myself

Gracias in advance

peddling-fiction RationalLuddite Dec 18, 2017 6:54 PM

"Link? While possible , i am very skeptical about this, despite posting not dissimilar recently myself

Gracias in advance"

This is but one of many: https://hothardware.com/news/intel-announces-first-atom-soc-with-integra...

I saw this "feature" mentioned way back. More about SoC (System on a Chip).

Spanish:

https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_on_a_chip

English:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_on_a_chip

any_mouse peddling-fiction Dec 18, 2017 3:57 PM

I know that if I was destroying evidence, I would call the authorities immediately if something went wrong.

Like the doper who called the police when someone stole his stash.

Crazy Or Not any_mouse Dec 18, 2017 5:09 PM

You have to consider if the story you are being told is "the truth" or a convienient version of it. Real truths ofen don't come out until the appeal, by which time the bulk of the population has moved on to other events and too busy to notice they were lied to for months or years.

scallywagrab NoDebt Dec 18, 2017 3:46 PM

Hahaha too funny man.....’hurdy-gurdy-gurdy-hurdy ;-)

Stan Smith Dec 18, 2017 3:10 PM

This would appear to be in the running for "Unintentional Comedy Story of the Day."

Of course, there's still a lot of day left.

DaBard51 Dec 18, 2017 3:12 PM

"The Tikkakoski complex is said use a high tech and advanced monitoring system to observe Russian military maneuvers based on electromagnetic radiation. "

You mean, listen to the radio? Quaint...

When nine hundred years old you become, look this good you will not.

peddling-fiction DaBard51 Dec 18, 2017 3:26 PM

Russians worry more about the Google spying complex in Hamina, Finland, right at the Finno-Russian border.

Google = eNeSgAy

Fellow silent Finns, you will be judged for siding with the evil empire (zio-USA-EU), this time around.

There will be consequences for leaving neutrality.

I am not asking you to trust bears; just don't poke them in the eye.

LA_Goldbug peddling-fiction Dec 18, 2017 3:37 PM

The idiots sold one of best cellphone brands in the World to idiots who destroyed it, NOKIA. Now that takes "intelligence". Sort of like the Swedes with their love of refugees.

https://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2016/05/19/microsoft-nokia-foxconn/

peddling-fiction LA_Goldbug Dec 18, 2017 5:51 PM

The Nokia cellphone brand is back in Finnish hands.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMD_Global

Nokia has become one of the largest corporate network providers in Europe, and is also a R&D company and provider of technology products, and much more.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_Networks

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia#Nokia_Technologies

FORD_FIESTA Dec 18, 2017 3:14 PM

"TREASON" ???? WTF? That word does not exist in Jeffy Sessions Dictionary.......

serotonindumptruck FORD_FIESTA Dec 18, 2017 3:16 PM

Unless you smoke a little weed once in a while.

Then you shall be hanged by the neck until dead.

mosfet Dec 18, 2017 3:14 PM

As the saying goes...Truth is Treason in an Empire of Lies.

In.Sip.ient Dec 18, 2017 3:16 PM

They are referencing documents from 1999....

Pretty deep rabbit hole don't you suppose???

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