A. N. Timonen: from Soviet cultural diplomacy to intercultural dialogue between Karelia and Finland

The dynamics and features of interaction between Karelia and Finland in the cultural sphere in the 1960s are considered in the context of the tasks of expanding the USSR’s influence on the territory of its northern neighbor. The forms and ways used by the creative forces of Karelia in the studied period for presenting the Finno-Ugric culture on the territory of Finland do not allow us to define these relations as intercultural communication. As early as in the late 1950s, the chairman of the Karelian Branch of the Union of Soviet Writers A. N. Timonen joined the party and state structures in their efforts to implement cultural diplomacy in Finland. The Karelian Branch of the USSR-Finland Society, created to establish an intercultural dialogue, was removed from the traditional field of propaganda and agitation. Timonen used multilateral personal contacts with the creative intelligentsia of Suomi. This way, he was able to stimulate informal communication between colleagues in the field of culture and arts and ensured mass participation of residents in cultural and friendship festivals on both sides of the border. This allowed Karelia and Finland, while preserving the tasks of cultural diplomacy in general, to switch to intercultural dialogue in the 1960s and to intercultural communication in the 1970s.