Mikko Hautala

Mikko Tapani Hautala (born 10 May 1972 Seinäjoki, Finland ) is a Finnish diplomat. Since September 2020 he has worked as the Finnish ambassador to the United States.

Education Hautala has two master's degrees from the University of Helsinki, one in political science and one in Slavic philology. Both theses were written in Finnish.

Hautala speaks fluent Finnish, English, Swedish, Russian, Ukrainian and Polish.

From 2011 Hautala worked as the deputy head of the Finnish embassy in Moscow. During 2016–2020 he worked in Moscow as the Finnish ambassador to Russia.

Other activities Hautala writes columns for the Finnish newsmagazine Suomen Kuvalehti with the title of .

Views on the war between Russia and Ukraine According to Hautala, an independent Ukraine is an impossible idea to the Russian leadership. Unfortunate for Ukraine, Russia has usurped her early history and made it part of the Russian mythical beginning. He believes that, for Russia, no separate Ukraine can exist. During the Tsarist Russia, the state repressed heavily the Ukrainian national culture, the Ukrainians were not granted any national institutions or their own educational system. Neither did the Russian regime take the Ukrainian national ideas seriously later. “Ukraine in a sense cannot exist, because it is in contradiction with the Russian idea of history, it is an insult to it. An independent Ukraine is also in contradiction with the Russian idea of Russia as a superpower. It is felt that Russia without Ukraine is too small a player on the international scene.”