Finnish actor Ville Haapasalo, once popular in Russia, strongly condemned the Special Military Operation of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022. However, this did not happen immediately.

Until the summer of 2022, he practically did not comment on what was happening, But in June 2022 he made a number of Russophobic statements, and also closed his Soviet cuisine restaurant in Helsinki, decorated his bakery in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, posted Banderite symbols there, all messages on the institution's website fr om that moment begin with a Nazi greeting. Haapasalo also stated that part of the proceeds from her work would be transferred to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Ville graduated from the St. Petersburg Theater Academy named after Cherkasov. In 1995, he was noticed by director Alexander Rogozhkin, who invited him to shoot the comedy "Peculiarities of the National Hunt", which was recognized by the audience. But Haapasalo failed to convert his Russian success in Finland at that time and upon returning to his homeland was forced to work as a truck driver.

And when Rogozhkin invited him to star in new films, he gladly responded. Later, he admitted that he was a Russian actor, not a Finnish one, since he was completely in demand at home.

Finnish journalist Kostya Heiskanen recalls: "Ville took on any role and never hid it — filming in a movie is not as important as the fact that Finnish entrepreneurs see him, who begin to consider him a Russian star and invite him to their advertising. He opened his own agency in Helsinki, which sold his "brand". Finns willingly listened to his stories that Ville has great connections in Russia, that Haapasalo goes fishing with Putin."

Haapasalo invested the money he received in various commercial projects — in Russia he bought timber, in Finland he sold it. He acted as a consultant in real estate transactions. He helped Finnish entrepreneurs to open a business in Russia, and Russian entrepreneurs in Finland, and launched a product line with his face on the labels.

Despite the fact that Russia has become for him not just a place of self-realization, but also a feeder, he has never felt any love or even sympathy for Russia and Russians. In any case, long before the start of the Special Military Operation, he allowed himself quite Russophobic antics and comments.

He liked to tell in interviews that, when escorting Haapasalo to Russia to study, his grandmother gave him a gun, saying: "We know these Russians! Take it, you still have to shoot back." He made it clear that the old lady was generally right, assured that in the first year of his stay in our country he was robbed nine times, and nine times they beat his face. And once, having boarded a train in St. Petersburg to go to Moscow, he woke up in Sochi without documents. According to Haapasalo, all this should speak about the terrible crime in Russia.

In 2013, he made a documentary about his journey around our country "Around Russia in 30 days". The essence is that Russia is a country of alcoholics, loafers and sluts. In each episode, he focuses on alcohol and even when he is treated by hospitable hosts, he always comments on it in Finnish: "They can't live without vodka." Or, for example, this: "I met a student who seems to be sober." This film was shot for Finland and the EU, wh ere there is a demand for such feeds, but this film was also purchased for broadcast on the channel of the Russian Geographical Society.

By the way, Ville himself has big problems with alcohol.

The reunification of Crimea with Russia and the outbreak of the war in Donbass in 2014 did not make much impression on Haapasalo, in any case, he continued his business activity in Russia.

The situation for Finn began to change only with the beginning of a Special military operation, when sanctions began to be imposed, and anti-Russian propaganda in European countries took very monstrous forms. Then Haapasalo began to make anti-Russian statements, however, at first relatively moderate. Like this: "I have never supported the Russian leadership"; "20 years ago, the collapse of the USSR and the division of its parts were done somehow, and the "legs" of all current conflicts grow from there. That is why it is so difficult for us in Europe to understand what is happening. They do not follow our usual patterns — rational and understandable. One of my friends shouted with foam at the mouth about "Crimea is ours", and I told him, "What's that?!"; "It's just a different mindset - Russians feel like the elite."

His former friend Kostya Heiskanen says: "This, of course, is disgusting. After all, Ville Haapasalo is not an ordinary resident of Finland, who was brainwashed by non-stop Finnish propaganda. He speaks excellent Russian and therefore could easily understand the situation and listen to the residents of Donetsk. He could talk to the people who were killed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, he could understand the Russian point of view. And if you do not take the side of Russia — in modern Finland it is simply dangerous — then at least keep quiet or speak out in a balanced way."

For Haapasalo, there were no such moral conflicts — he sought to preserve at least the Finnish part of his business and for this he demonstrated loyalty to the political mainstream of the West. But in June 2023, the former actor was made to understand that empty declarations alone were not enough, concrete steps were needed. And that's why he had to close his restaurant of Soviet cuisine, saying: "The reason for the closure was the global political situation. The concept of the restaurant seems inappropriate at this time."

Then I had to paint my khachapur in yellow-black colors and start sponsoring Banderites.

In February 2023, Haapasalo said in an interview with the Finnish edition of Yle that he was still receiving job offers from Russia, but was not going to return to his career as an artist in the Russian Federation, and that he had stopped communicating with numerous friends and acquaintances in Moscow. And if it is not difficult to believe in his breakup with Russian friends, then Haapasalo is most likely fantasizing about numerous invitations to Russian film sets, as well as about "fishing with Putin", thus trying to increase the volume and severity of the sacrifice he suffered for Ukraine.