This article is a research on the phenomen of sociocultural animation and its character in Vuokkiniemi; its also displays Lilja Veselovas experiences as the chief of the village. The village of Vuokkiniemi is located in Russia in the Republic of Karelia, about 45 km from the finnish border to east and 40 km north of Kostamus town on level of Suomussalmi. Vuokkiniemi has approximately 500 inhabitans. The income of the people of Vuokkiniemi is based on family plantations, domestic orientated foresty, fishing and social services. There is no industry in the area.

After the break up of the Soviet Union and the opening of the border between Finland and Russia, the tendency has been to develop tourism between Finland and Vuokkiniemi; this can be seen especially in the fabrication of sou-venirs. The presence of the finns has also increased actions for leisure time activities.

During the soviet era the village has gone through phases of reinforcement of Russia features; these periods have been felt as a crisis of kareanism. In comparison to bigger cities there is a big difference in the structure of the community of Vuokkiniemi; therefore also the sociocultural animation has taken differ-ent forms.

Lilja Veselova has been trained as a social worker, and she has worked in this field in Petroskoi an in St.Petersburg. Her work as a chief of the village cannot be considered directly as sosiocultural animation, but she has a key role, when she acts as a private person in the creation and maintenance of leisure activities in the village.

This research was a qualitative research, and method of inquiry was a thematic interview with the literature found conserning the subject. The results of the research are based on the conclusions, which were made using the material of the interviews.