Helsinki City Council approves politician with Russian roots as new mayor

Following a meeting of the Helsinki City Council, Daniel Sazonov, who is of Russian origin, was elected the new mayor of Helsinki. This was announced on June 2 by the Mayor's office of the capital of Finland.

"At its first meeting, the City Council elected Daniel Sazonov as the new mayor of Helsinki. The elections were held unanimously," the message on the mayor's office's website says.

The term of office of the mayor is four years.

Sazonov was born in Helsinki in 1993. His parents moved to Finland from St. Petersburg in the 1990s. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Mayor for Social Affairs and Health.

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Regional and municipal elections were held in Finland on April 13. In Helsinki, the victory was won by the National Coalition Party, represented by Sazonov. This meant that he would become the head of the Finnish capital. Political scientist Maxim Reva told Izvestia on April 14 that the election of a Russian—born politician as mayor of Helsinki would not affect the country's foreign policy in any way, moreover, Finnish propagandists could use this fact for their own purposes.