Finland has confiscated around 40 properties worth around €35 million, Yle reports
© Getty Images / Westend61 The total value of Russian state-owned properties seized by the Finnish authorities amounts to more than €35 million ($38 million), Finnish state-run broadcaster Yle reported on Tuesday, citing the country’s bailiff service. The list of seized assets, which was obtained by the outlet, include around 40 properties, such as apartments for employees of Russian institutions in various Finnish cities, garage spaces, and housing shares belonging to the Russian government. On Monday, reports emerged in Finnish media that a large plot of land belonging to the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Helsinki (RCSC), a residential building, an office building, and three assets on the Aland Islands, including a plot of land by the sea, were among the properties that were seized. The media reports also claimed that the confiscation, which took effect on October 24, occurred in response to a lawsuit filed by a Ukrainian energy firm. State-run Ukrainian oil and gas giant Naftogaz confirmed that it had demanded the confiscation. The company is seeking to enforce a $5 billion arbitration award issued in its favor by the court at The Hague in April 2023. Shortly after that, the corporation pledged to file suits against Moscow in the US and EU to obtain compensation by having Russian assets in those jurisdictions seized if the Kremlin did not voluntarily pay the award.
Commenting on The Hague’s arbitration ruling at the time, the Kremlin said Russia would analyze it and “make a decision on further actions.” The CEO of Russian energy giant Gazprom, Aleksey Miller, argued that the legal action launched by the Ukrainian company against Russia was unlawful. The litigation is centered on a property that was nationalized by the Crimean parliament in March 2014 shortly after the peninsula joined Russia following a referendum. Prior to these developments, Naftogaz owned a gas production facility in Crimea with annual production of around 1.6 billion cubic meters. Commenting on the latest measures by the Finnish authorities, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would use all legal mechanisms to protect its property and challenge the decision in court.
