Putin held on Finland's criminal blacklist by 'mistake'
Vladimir Putin, banned in Finland?
Finnish police say the Russian president's
name was mistakenly placed on a secret criminal register that could theoretically
have gotten him arrested at the border.
TV station MTV3 reported Wednesday that
Putin was placed there for his contact with Russian motorcycle gang Night
Wolves, though he wasn't suspected of a crime in Finland. But National Police
Board spokesman Robin Lardot told the AP the listing was a mistake and that
Putin's name was removed from the list.
"The National Police Board has
investigated the case and indeed found that such a mistaken entry was in the
register," Lardot told The Associated Press. "We have ordered it to
be removed and are investigating the case very thoroughly. We don't know how it
got there." He declined further comment.
Putin's inclusion would be a major source
of embarrassment in bilateral relations.
Finnish Interior Minister Paivi Rasanen,
whose ministry oversees the police, conveyed her "sincerest
apologies" to Putin over the mistaken entry.
"The Interior Ministry considers it of
grave concern if a member of the police has made such groundless entries into
the database of suspects."
MTV3 said the content of the register is
known only to a few top officials. But in a statement later Wednesday, police
called it a "computerized personal data file intended for nationwide used
by the police."
They said it includes information on people
who are suspected of offenses punishable by prison "or having contributed
to an offence subject to imprisonment of more than six months, or to an
unlawful use of narcotics."
The Night Wolves says on its Web site that
the club's prototype was born in the 1980s from the desire to protect musicians
who were holding illegal concerts during the Soviet era.
The muscle-flexing Russian leader has not
been averse to being associated with tough bikers and has described motorcycles
as "the most dramatic form of transport."
Three years ago, he leaped onto a Harley
Davidson to join about 5,000 bikers at an international convention in southern
Ukraine sporting black sunglasses, black jeans and black fingerless gloves.
The head of Finland's national police
force, Mikko Paatero, apologized for the "mistaken" inclusion of
Putin's name in the database.
"This kind of incident is extremely
exceptional and is not acceptable under any circumstances," Paatero said
in a statement.
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