Finland takes €3.7M from Russia to compensate Naftogaz

Finnish enforcement authorities have confiscated €3.7 million (about $4.3 million) in assets linked to the Russian state so far this year.

In the past, the agency has mostly seized real estate owned by Russia, but this year’s confiscations have been monetary, News.Az reports, citing Yle.

The seizures are related to Russia's military operations in Ukraine, based on a claim by the Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz and its subsidiaries.

The approximately 3.7 million euros placed in temporary seizure originates from the EU's now-defunct external border cooperation programme, in which Finland and Russia both took part.

The programme, which was overseen in Finland by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, was aimed at supporting development in border areas between the countries. The funds remained in Finland.

According to a bailiff's document, Russia paid its financial contribution of 3.7 million euros before launching its war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022. The border cooperation programme was terminated after the full-scale invasion, and the money ended up at the ministry – from which they have now been seized.

A seizure is a precautionary measure that ensures that the owner of the property cannot sell or transfer the property. It is intended to protect the position of a creditor or claimant.

Since 2024, the Finnish National Enforcement Authority has seized Russian assets worth more than 40 million euros. In late 2022, MTV estimated that Finland had seized nearly 190 million euros' worth of Russian assets in the first half-year after the February invasion.

In addition to seizures, Finland has begun to collect compensation from Russia for damage it has caused.

Last week, Yle reported that the Helsinki District Court has ordered the enforcement of the billion-euro compensation that the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ordered Russia to pay in 2023.

That April, the court ordered Moscow to pay some 4.3 billion euros in compensation for unlawfully expropriating its assets in Russian-annexed Crimea in 2014.

Naftogaz CEO Oleksiy Chernyshov described the ruling as a "key victory on the energy front" and said he expected more decisions in Ukraine's favour to come.

According to international law, each contracting state must enforce the ruling within its territory, as Finland has now done. Russia has appealed the decision.

If the decision becomes legally binding, Russian state assets seized in Finland, amounting to over four billion euros, must be handed over to Naftogaz as compensation.

News.Az 

By Ulviyya Salmanli