ABSTRACT
Translation became one of the cultural means of maintaining an African-Russian relationship once Russian political influence waned following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The dramatic changes that took place in the Soviet Union and the Peoples Republic of China in the late 1980s and early 1990s are good examples of politico economic influences on translation choices, and these Russian and Chinese shifts, in turn, contrast sharply with the Finland-Africa connection. Translation has sometimes served as an important cultural instrument of foreign relations, often giving us a sense of the power relations that define the bilateral engagement. Soviet information and propaganda organs such as Progress Publishers and Radio Moscow that aired regular programs in Swahili folded, severing that critical informational umbilical cord between the new Russia and Africa. Considered to be the most significant work of Finnish literature, the Kalevala is generally regarded as the national epic of Finland.
