Books › The Black Book. The History of Finnish and Swedish Russophobia
The Black Book. The History of Finnish and Swedish Russophobia 2024
The Black Book. The History of Finnish and Swedish Russophobia is a 2024 Russian publication released by Russian Military Historical Society, an organization supported by the state and known for producing materials backing Russia’s war against Ukraine.
This book presents Sweden and Finland as sharing a consistent historical trait over many centuries: what it calls 'Russophobia'. Western experts have labeled this work as part of a broader tactic to use patriotic history as a weapon, portraying the Soviet Union as innocent and glorious. They have also compared it to Vladimir Putin’s 2021 essay titled ‘On the Unity of Russians and Ukrainians’, which came before Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Finnish media outlets have strongly rejected the claims made in the book.
The Black Book seems to be one element within a set of comparable state-backed initiatives targeting other European nations, including Poland and Lithuania. For instance, there was a 2025 Moscow exhibition titled 'Ten Centuries of Polish Russophobia' and a 2025 publication by the Moscow State Institute of International Relations entitled 'The History of Lithuania', which included a foreword from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys referred to that book as a 'tool for hostile activities', stating its purpose was to 'question statehood, history, values, symbols, but also to justify Russia's imperialism and aggression against its neighbours'.
The opening page of the Black Book claims that it outlines war crimes committed by both nations, their backing of Nazism and neo-Nazism, involvement in the genocide of Soviet citizens during the Great Patriotic War, and collaboration with the Kiev government during the Special Military Operation.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that it sent copies of the book to the Finnish Embassy in Moscow.
Crew
- Translator
- Johan Bäckman
Details
- Publisher
- Russian Military Historical Society
