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Author : I. Demianenko
Unique History of a Unique Consular Office: Towards the 75th Anniversary of Russia's Consulate in
the Aland Islands
A CONSULATE of the Russian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs operating in Aland is the only such agency en-
dowed with a special status. Both its history and legal
status are extraordinary not only in terms of Russian
but also foreign consular practices.
This is largely explained by the fact that the Aland Is-
lands have a status of a demilitarized zone; Russia's
consulate is thus essentially an element of the inter-
national instrument which allows securing the archi-
pelago's special political and legal status in the Baltics
within the framework of the international legal relations.
Special mention should be made of a unique nature of this instrument consisting only of four
articles, and yet containing, from the point of view of international legal practices, a great variety
of international legal standards: declarative, defining, regulatory, protective, binding, empowering,
material, procedural, self-enforced, and technical, defining the parameters and boundaries of
the demilitarized zone.
Over a hundred years of common history, many human lives also intertwined - from the times
of the Bomarsund fortress up to World War I. The consulate was obviously taking into account
the above factors when developing contacts on both an official level and also on the level of
economy, culture, tourism, and sports, as well as when promoting activities of the Aland division
of the Finish-Soviet Friendship Society.
Russian consulate is also engaged in maintaining and upkeeping Russian burial grounds, regard-
less of their confessional affiliation. Thus, the isle of Presto has five cemeteries - Russian Or-
thodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Muslim, and Jewish - dating back to the nineteenth century
when the Bomarsund fortress was built and Russia was still present in Aland.
Regardless of a clearly defined nature of the tasks performed by the consulate in the Aland Is-
lands, there was a period marked by great uncertainty. On decision of Boris Yeltsin's adminis-
tration the consulate suspended its activities from 1996 to 1998, and the then consulate's head
was seconded for service to Russia's General Consulate in Turku.
Through the many decades and at different points in time, 19 Soviet/Russian consuls actively
promoted the above activities. An "old timer" in this regard was Consul Vassily Maksimov who
worked in Aland from 1959 to 1965. Many consuls were World War II veterans; among them,
an alive-and-well V.N Sorokin. In their effort to maintain links between generations, many of
the consuls who worked in Aland in the 1990s and 2000s, still keep in touch with the agency.
http://interaffairs.ru
Unique History of a Unique Consular Office