The decision to seize Russian assets around Finland has its basis in Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Last year, the arbitration court in The Hague decided that Russia should pay compensation to Ukrainian companies that suffered damage from the annexation. When Russia then did not pay, they turned to Western countries with the hope of receiving compensation through seized assets.
Finland pounced, and now the Enforcement Agency in the country has seized tens of properties, homes and plots of land belonging to the Russian state.
– Åland in particular has been in the news a lot. There are beach plots there, one of which has been called Putin’s summer cottage. Many of these properties just stand and fall into disrepair. It is clear that Russia has no use for them, but still they do not want to get rid of them, says SVT’s Finland correspondent Liselott Lindström.
The future unclear
The decision has not been well received by Russia, which among other things has summoned Finland’s ambassador to protest.
– Finland has then tried to explain that this is not a political process, but that the courts are independent. Russia, of course, sees the matter in a different way. They see it as a political provocation.
What will ultimately happen to the seized properties is currently unclear. In practice, the decision so far only means that the Russian state cannot sell or transfer the assets to anyone else.
– It’s like a reservation right now, so to speak, so that they can later be redeemed in money that will go to these Ukrainian companies, says Liselott Lindström.