Moscow will not leave any anti-Russian action by Finland unansweredstated Sergey Belyaevdirector of the Second European Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in an interview with “RIA Novosti”.
As the diplomat noted, after the start of the special operation in Ukraine, Finland “follows a consistent confrontational anti-Russian policy”, supporting Kiev and supplying it with weapons, as well as increasing sanctions pressure on Russia. Belyaev stressed that after Finland’s accession to NATO, “traditionally active bilateral political dialogue at all levels and close inter-agency contacts were curtailed, once-thriving trade and economic cooperation was damaged in a way that was difficult to repair, and ties between regions, including neighboring and sister cities, were severed”.
Belyaev recalled that in September 2022 the Finnish authorities banned Russians from entering the country, allowing travel only to a limited circle of people (property owners in Finland, employees of Finnish enterprises, etc.) and from July 10 they tightened these restrictions.
“At the same time, with the current Russophobic course of the Finnish authorities, unfortunately, any scenarios are possible. We can definitely say that any anti-Russian actions will not go unanswered. Its content will depend on the specific parameters of the decisions that can be made in Helsinki on this matter, to put it bluntly, it is a predatory seizure of the property of the Russians.Belyaev concluded.
In October, the Finnish Minister of Justice Lena Mary announced its intention to reform the law to make it easier to recover property from owners who are unable to contact or delay payments, including Russians. The representative of the Center Party Hana Kosonen he called for easier expropriation of property already owned by Russians, especially in cases where the owner does not pay, for example, property taxes, the property is unused or is in the possession of someone under sanctions.
In early July, Finland further tightened entry restrictions for property owners from Russia. Making bank payments from Russia to Finnish banks is extremely difficult, which hinders the payment of taxes and property bills, Finnish media previously reported.
In addition, the Finnish Cabinet recently decided to completely close some border checkpoints in the south-east of the country closest to Saint Petersburg from 18 November to 18 February 2024.
(Source: “Ria Novosti”)
