Svetogorsk
Encyclopedia
Svetogorsk is an industrial town in Vyborgsky District
of Leningrad Oblast
, Russia
, situated on the Karelian Isthmus
, on the Vuoksa River. It is located one kilometer from the Russian–Finnish
border, five kilometers from the Finnish town of Imatra
, and 207 kilometers from St. Petersburg
. Population:
municipality, in the Finnish Viipuri Province
. Enso was developing into an influential town, but the Soviet Union's hostilities against Finland led to its occupation in 1940. In 1941, the Soviet Union returned Enso but in 1944, Red Army
took over it again. After World War II
, the town was ceded to Soviet Union
. Soviet citizens were transferred to the town after the war (mainly from Ukraine
, Belarus
, and Russia
) and in 1948 town was renamed Svetogorsk.
After the Winter War
the Finns and the Soviets disagreed on the interpretation of the peace treaty regarding Enso. The former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Väinö Tanner
wrote in his memoirs: "Already now a dispute about the district of Enso developed. According to the map attached to the peace treaty Enso was clearly intended to belong to Finland but the Russians claimed that it should belong to them. Later the map was redrawn according to the interests of the Russians so that the border bends at Enso."
In 1972 the Soviet Union awarded Finland a construction project for a large new cellulose and paper mill in Svetogorsk. The project was paid with Soviet crude oil. The project also gave a start to cross-border relations. Notably, the construction workers in Svetogorsk were called "builders", and the project also had intent to "build friendship between peoples".
the town was a major factory site for Enso-Gutzeit Oy, the Finnish pulp and paper company (now Stora Enso
). In the armistice of 1940 the new Finnish-Soviet border was deliberately drawn to leave the factory complex on the Soviet side. The town's major industry is still pulp and paper
.
OAO Svetogorsk, one of the biggest paper mill
s in Russia, is the major employer. Covering two square kilometers, OAO Svetogorsk produces pulp
, printing paper
, and packaging board. Its brands include Svetocopy and Ballet office paper. Since December 1998, OAO Svetogorsk has been majority owned by International Paper
. At end of 2001 the plant employed 3,000 people; by 2008 this had fallen to 2,200.
Immediately adjacent to OAO Svetogorsk is a tissue mill. This formed part of the original mill complex but was split-away and resold by International Paper to SCA
during the acquisition of OAO Svetogorsk from Tetra Laval
, which controlled the plant since 1995. Svetogorsk Tissue, as the separate entity was to be called, became fully integrated into SCA Hygiene Products Division in 2003. It employs around 400 people. Its products include Zewa and Tork brands of paper towels and toilet tissue.
TACIS funded project ran from 1999 and the new international frontier, capable of handling 1,300 cars per day, opened on July 3, 2002. Further TACIS programmes are planned until 2010, including improvements to town infrastructure and the development of an industrial park with special tax rates.
-Russia
n border as a protest against poor road conditions and lack of investment in road improvement at both federal and municipal level. According to the Finnish
public service broadcaster YLE, the militia participated in effectively cutting off through traffic. The main issue of discontent was the lack of a by-pass, which, according to reports, should already have been built.
Vyborgsky District
Vyborgsky District is the name of several administrative and municipal districts in Russia.*Vyborgsky District, Leningrad Oblast, an administrative and municipal district of Leningrad Oblast...
of Leningrad Oblast
Leningrad Oblast
Leningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It was established on August 1, 1927, although it was not until 1946 that the oblast's borders had been mostly settled in their present position...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, situated on the Karelian Isthmus
Karelian Isthmus
The Karelian Isthmus is the approximately 45–110 km wide stretch of land, situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, to the north of the River Neva . Its northwestern boundary is the relatively narrow area between the Bay of Vyborg and Lake Ladoga...
, on the Vuoksa River. It is located one kilometer from the Russian–Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
border, five kilometers from the Finnish town of Imatra
Imatra
Imatra is a town and municipality in eastern Finland, founded in 1948 around three industrial settlements near the Finnish–Russian border. In the course of the last 50 years, this amorphous group of settlements has grown into a modern industrial town dominated by Lake Saimaa, the Vuoksi River and...
, and 207 kilometers from St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. Population:
History
The town, founded in 1887, was originally called Enso and formed part of the JääskiLesogorsky
Lesogorsky is an urban locality in Vyborgsky District of Leningrad Oblast, located on the Karelian Isthmus near the Russia–Finland border, and a station of the Kamennogorsk–Svetogorsk–Imatra railway...
municipality, in the Finnish Viipuri Province
Viipuri Province
The Viipuri Province was a province of independent Finland from 1917 to 1947 but had already been founded in 1743.-History:The province was established in 1743 by separating the city of Viipuri and territories ceded from the Swedish Empire to Russia by the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, from the Saint...
. Enso was developing into an influential town, but the Soviet Union's hostilities against Finland led to its occupation in 1940. In 1941, the Soviet Union returned Enso but in 1944, Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
took over it again. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the town was ceded to Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Soviet citizens were transferred to the town after the war (mainly from Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
) and in 1948 town was renamed Svetogorsk.
After the Winter War
Winter War
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
the Finns and the Soviets disagreed on the interpretation of the peace treaty regarding Enso. The former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Väinö Tanner
Väinö Tanner
Väinö Tanner was a pioneer and leader in the cooperative movement in Finland, and Prime Minister of Finland from 1926 to 1927....
wrote in his memoirs: "Already now a dispute about the district of Enso developed. According to the map attached to the peace treaty Enso was clearly intended to belong to Finland but the Russians claimed that it should belong to them. Later the map was redrawn according to the interests of the Russians so that the border bends at Enso."
In 1972 the Soviet Union awarded Finland a construction project for a large new cellulose and paper mill in Svetogorsk. The project was paid with Soviet crude oil. The project also gave a start to cross-border relations. Notably, the construction workers in Svetogorsk were called "builders", and the project also had intent to "build friendship between peoples".
Industry
Before the Winter WarWinter War
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
the town was a major factory site for Enso-Gutzeit Oy, the Finnish pulp and paper company (now Stora Enso
Stora Enso
Stora Enso Oyj is a Finnish pulp and paper manufacturer, formed by the merger of Swedish mining and forestry products company Stora and Finnish forestry products company Enso-Gutzeit Oy in 1998. It is headquartered in Helsinki, and it has approximately 29,000 employees...
). In the armistice of 1940 the new Finnish-Soviet border was deliberately drawn to leave the factory complex on the Soviet side. The town's major industry is still pulp and paper
Pulp and paper industry
The global pulp and paper industry is dominated by North American , northern European and East Asian countries...
.
OAO Svetogorsk, one of the biggest paper mill
Paper mill
A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine.- History :...
s in Russia, is the major employer. Covering two square kilometers, OAO Svetogorsk produces pulp
Wood pulp
Pulp is a lignocellulosic fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating cellulose fibres from wood, fibre crops or waste paper. Wood pulp is the most common raw material in papermaking.-History:...
, printing paper
Paper
Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
, and packaging board. Its brands include Svetocopy and Ballet office paper. Since December 1998, OAO Svetogorsk has been majority owned by International Paper
International Paper
International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 59,500 employees, and it is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.-History:...
. At end of 2001 the plant employed 3,000 people; by 2008 this had fallen to 2,200.
Immediately adjacent to OAO Svetogorsk is a tissue mill. This formed part of the original mill complex but was split-away and resold by International Paper to SCA
Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget
Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget is a Swedish consumer goods company and pulp and paper manufacturer with headquarters in Stockholm. It has approximately 45,000 employees and a turnover of approximately SEK 107 billion...
during the acquisition of OAO Svetogorsk from Tetra Laval
Tetra Pak
Tetra Pak is a multinational food processing and packaging company of Swedish origin. It was founded in 1951 in Lund, Sweden, by Ruben Rausing. It was Erik Wallenberg who invented the tetrahedral package, today known as Tetra Classic...
, which controlled the plant since 1995. Svetogorsk Tissue, as the separate entity was to be called, became fully integrated into SCA Hygiene Products Division in 2003. It employs around 400 people. Its products include Zewa and Tork brands of paper towels and toilet tissue.
Border
The Imatra-Svetogorsk border plays a key role in the transportation of timber between Russia and Finland. Also, around 150 employees commute daily from Imatra to the paper mills. The border crossing, which had temporary status, was a frequent cause of bottlenecks due to lengthy customs checks and inadequate facilities. A Russia-Finland agreement in 1997 allowed the development and eventual permanence of the border crossing. This €7 million European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
TACIS funded project ran from 1999 and the new international frontier, capable of handling 1,300 cars per day, opened on July 3, 2002. Further TACIS programmes are planned until 2010, including improvements to town infrastructure and the development of an industrial park with special tax rates.
2008 Protests
On the 18th of April, 2008, about 500 inhabitants of Svetogorsk participated in a protest which included a road barricade on the FinnishFinland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
-Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n border as a protest against poor road conditions and lack of investment in road improvement at both federal and municipal level. According to the Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
public service broadcaster YLE, the militia participated in effectively cutting off through traffic. The main issue of discontent was the lack of a by-pass, which, according to reports, should already have been built.