Across the Frozen Border: When Russian and Finnish Police Worked Together

For decades, Finnish and Russian authorities cooperated on criminal investigations along one of Europe’s most sensitive borders. Organized crime, smuggling, and human trafficking required information to move between two countries with very different political and security systems. But what happens when a police investigation also becomes an intelligence operation? Inspired by the Finnish crime thriller Arctic Circle, this episode examines the reality of Russian–Finnish law enforcement cooperation, the counterintelligence risks of joint investigations, and how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine transformed a working relationship into a potential national security vulnerability.