A mysterious package delivered to the home of Finland’s then Chief of Defence, General Timo Kivinen, in December 2021 contained a teapot and letters addressed to both Kivinen and US General Mark A. Milley.
The package arrived as Kivinen was preparing for a confidential phone call with Milley, then Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, amid rapidly escalating tensions around Ukraine.
Kivinen has previously told Ilta-Sanomat that his wife was at home when an unknown person rang the doorbell. The person said a package had been left near the property’s waste shelter before quickly returning to a car parked farther away.
Kivinen told his wife not to touch the package, and it was later collected by the authorities. Neither the sender nor the person who delivered it was identified.
More details about the contents appear in a Finnish government research publication on Russia’s influence activities in Finland.
According to the study, the cardboard box contained a teapot and separate letters addressed to Kivinen and Milley.
The researchers describe the items as “Russian hints” whose precise message remained unclear.
They assess, however, that the episode may have been intended to remind key Finnish officials that Russia was also monitoring aspects of their private lives.
The study notes that other European political figures have reported similar acts perceived as suggestive or intimidating, including Jens Stoltenberg, who served as NATO Secretary General from 2014 to 2024.
Teapot carries uncomfortable associations
The teapot itself may carry particularly disturbing associations.
In addition to being associated with Russian culture, tea has a notorious place in the history of Russian-linked poisoning cases.
Former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko died in London in 2006 after drinking tea poisoned with the radioactive isotope polonium-210.
Timo Kivinen has not said that the package was connected to his planned conversation with Mark Milley.
Only a small circle knew about the call, during which the two generals were expected to discuss Russian activity around Ukraine.
“There were quite a lot of coincidences,” Kivinen told Ilta-Sanomat.
Kivinen served as Chief of Defence of the Finnish Defence Forces from 2019 to 2024.