This year, the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Helsinki joined the long-standing tradition of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and organised a breakfast with human rights defenders, Russian activists Irina Vesikko and Gleb Yarovoy. Irina Vesikko is one of the leaders of the Russian democratic community in Finland, which organizes anti-government and anti-war protests and other activities. Gleb Yarovoy is a researcher at the University of Eastern Finland, a critic of the Putin regime, a freelance journalist and an expert on EU-Russia relations. He is also a team member in EDUneighbours project conducting research on Finnish-Russian academic cooperation.

The guests discussed human rights violations in Russia, especially in relation to academics and journalists, with ambassadors from European countries and presented their activities supporting democratically minded Russians and Ukrainian refugees. High level of violence in society (direct, structural and cultural), censorship and pervasive propaganda were identified as some of Russia's main problems. The guests underlined the importance of Western cooperation with opponents of Putin’s regime.