The Gulf of Finland (Finnish: Suomenlahti; Estonian: Soome laht; Russian: Финский залив, tr. Finskiy zaliv; IPA: [ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif]; Swedish: Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland (to the north) and Estonia (to the south) all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. Other major cities around the gulf include Helsinki and Tallinn. The eastern parts of the Gulf of Finland belong to Russia, and some of Russia's most important oil harbors are located farthest in, near Saint Petersburg (including Primorsk). As the seaway to Saint Petersburg, the Gulf of Finland has been and continues to be of considerable strategic importance to Russia. Some of the environmental problems affecting the Baltic Sea are at their most pronounced in the shallow gulf.

Coordinates: 65°N 27°E / 65°N 027°E / 65; 027

Finland ⁱ/ˈfɪnlənd/ ( Finnish: Suomi; Swedish: Finland (help·info)), officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.

Around 5.4 million people reside in Finland, with the majority concentrated in the southern region. It is the eighth largest country in Europe in terms of area and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in Helsinki and local governments in 336 municipalities, and an autonomous region of the Åland Islands. About one million residents live in the Greater Helsinki area, which consists of Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa, and a third of the country's GDP is produced there. Other larger cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Lahti and Kuopio.

Imbi Paju (born June 3, 1959 Jõgevamaa, Estonia) is an Estonian-born journalist, writer and filmmaker resident in Finland.

Paju has been operating in Finland as a correspondent of the Estonian newspapers Eesti Päevaleht and Postimees. Before Estonia's re-independence, she worked in Tartu's Vanemuine Theatre opera chorus.

In 2006, her book "Memories Denied" was published in Estonian, Swedish and Russian languages. Paju has also made a documentary of the same name, Memories Denied, which examined Paju's own family struggle during the Soviet period.

In 2009, she completed a documentary "Sisters Across the Gulf of Finland" which tells the story of the cooperation and friendship between the members of the Estonian and Finnish voluntary auxiliary organizations for women (Naiskodukaitse and Lotta Svärd) that began in the 1920s and was cut off by World War II and the Soviet occupation of Estonia.