National Archives says Russian records face no new restrictions

Finland’s National Archives has not changed the access restrictions on historical records obtained from Russia, Director General Päivi Happonen told Yle. The records can be consulted under supervision in research rooms but are not available remotely.

Happonen said the National Archives had no reason to censor the material. She was responding to a Yle report published on Sunday that said access to the Russian records had been restricted.

“The access restrictions have not been changed. They have been exactly the same all along,” Happonen said. She added that the interpretation that the material was less accessible than before was incorrect.

Researchers and former National Archives employees criticised the fact that the records are not freely available online. Happonen said that if the material could be accessed freely over the internet, it would have been put online in 2018.

In 2018, the National Archives and Russia’s federal archive agency signed an addendum to a cooperation agreement concluded in 2005. The aim was to make significant documents available to Finnish researchers. The addendum states that the records are freely available for scholarly and research purposes in National Archives research rooms or through remote access.

The National Archives has stressed that any remote connection must be secure.

9999 date resulted from technical update

According to Happonen, a new Archives Act that came into force at the beginning of July now allows the creation of a system for providing researchers and other customers with remote access to different types of digitally restricted material. The system is expected to be introduced at the beginning of next year.

A screenshot from the National Archives website included in Sunday’s Yle report showed the restriction period as running from September 1, 2022, to December 31, 9999.

Happonen said the start and end dates shown on the National Archives website are not related to changes in the conditions of access. They resulted from technical database updates, she said, and do not indicate how long the material will remain restricted.

Branches to close because of cuts

Researchers also criticised the closure of National Archives branches. Happonen attributed the closures to budget cuts.

“If services are to be developed and staff and specialists retained, it means cutting back on buildings rather than experts,” she said.

Director has not banned archive access

In Sunday’s article, Happonen’s predecessor, Jussi Nuorteva, said the National Archives director general had considerable power over decisions concerning access to records.

Happonen said that sounded unusual, noting that most of the National Archives’ records were freely accessible.

She said the National Archives had made about 2,500 access decisions this year, 25 of which she had made herself. These concerned access to certain private archives and were made following presentations by officials, she said.

None of Happonen’s decisions had denied access, she said.