The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (Supo) has reiterated that there's a growing risk that Finns could be taken hostage as the Russian regime uses prisoners as leverage.
It said August's prisoner exchange between western countries and Russia may set a precedent, encouraging Moscow to continue leveraging hostages.
Finland could be a potential target for such hostage diplomacy, according to the agency.
Petteri Lalu, a Supo researcher, told Finnish news agency STT that this type of threat concerns Finns in Russia.
While Supo has been tight-lipped as to whether there is currently any Russian imprisoned in Finland whom the regime wants to be released, STT on Saturday reported that one individual of potential interest in a swap is Voislav Torden. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is investigating the former Russian mercenary on suspicion of war crimes committed in Ukraine between 2014 and 2015.
