Putin's friends who fell under sanctions sold the stadium in Helsinki

Russian businessmen with Finnish citizenship Gennady Timchenko and Roman Rotenberg sold the Arena Helsinki Stadium Group of Finnish investors. The transaction should be approved by the authorities of Finland and the European Union, this may take several months, the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper reports.

The transaction is estimated at about 60 million euros. Money for the sale of the arena will go to special accounts under the control of the authorities and will be stored there while sanctions are acting against businessmen, the newspaper said. According to the publication, the scheme is supported by the Prime Minister of Peteri Orpo.

The multifunctional stadium with a capacity of up to 15 thousand people stopped working in 2022, after Russian invasion of Ukraine and the expansion of sanctions against Russian businessmen. The authorities believed that the empty object harms the image of the country and the city, and allowed its sale. However, the term of resolution expired.

It is forced to redeem the arena if the commercial owners are not found, the Helsinki city hall planned, said Yle in November. They feared that the process would take several years.

The old acquaintance of Russian President Vladimir Putin Gennady Timchenko has been under US sanctions since 2014, the European Union has on sanctions lists in 2022. Roman Rotenberg was not authorized by the EU, but the Finnish authorities suggested that the father of a businessman, a friend of President Putin Boris Rotenberg, can control the arena through him. He fell under the sanctions of the United States and the EU after the invasion of 2022.