The accounts of the representative offices of Finland in Moscow and St. Petersburg are frozen

Russia froze the accounts of Finland's diplomatic missions in Moscow and St. Petersburg. This was reported by Helsingin Sanomat, the Finland Foreign Ministry confirms the freezing of funds.

“The situation is serious, the question is being investigated,” the newspaper quoted the statement of the foreign policy.

The Finland Foreign Ministry has already contacted the Russian side, writes Helsingin Sanomat.

Update: Foreign Minister Pecca Haavisto said that Finland was informed about freezing accounts on April 27, and that no official explanation was received from the Russian side.

Finland does not plan to close the embassy in Moscow and the consulate in St. Petersburg.

• In January, it became known that Finland froze Russian assets in the amount of 187 million euros. This was done as part of the sanctions imposed on Russia due to military invasion of Ukraine.
• In September 2022, the publication of Helsingin Sanomat reported the arrest of assets of Russian billionaires and businessmen Boris and Arkady Rotenbergs close to Vladimir Putin, as well as the freezing of Yandex assets.
• Since September 2022, Finland, like many other European countries, has reduced the issuance of visas for Russians. From this moment on, the representative office of Finland is considering only 100 applications for tourist visas from all over Russia on the day.
• Until the military invasion of Russia in Ukraine, Finland did not support the idea of joining NATO and adhered to many years of neutrality policy. But later, the country, together with Sweden, applied for joining the military alliance, on April 4, Finland entered NATO.