12 January

Eino Uusitalo, Minister of the Interior, does not grant a work permit and entry into the country to punk band Sex Pistols. The band is considered morally dubious.

20 November

President Urho Kekkonen disputes reports that the Soviet Union had proposed joint military exercises with Finland. However, the reports are accurate. While visiting Finland in July 1978, the Soviet defence minister Marshal Dmitry Ustinov proposed that the two countries should conduct a joint military exercise on either Finnish or Soviet soil. Kekkonen rejected the proposal on the grounds that it was not in keeping with Finland’s neutrality policy.