Finland seizes more than $80 million in Russian assets

Finnish authorities are holding the frozen assets of Russiaworth about $84 million due to sanctions against the country, according to Helsingin Sanomat.

The assets in question are owned by Russian individuals and entities who are subject to EU sanctions due to the Ukraine conflict. An estimated 1,000 individuals and 80 entities are considered “complicit” by Brussels in the war.

The frozen assets include the estate of the family of Russian businessman Boris Rotenberg, who once held a large ownership stake in the Finnish ice hockey team Jokerit. An $8.5 million beachfront villa in the southern Finnish resort town of Hanko owned by tech mogul Rotenberg – who holds a Finnish passport since 2002 – was also confiscated.

Other luxury properties such as 21 Russian-owned yachts have been banned from leaving Finland.

In addition, shipments of raw materials were also confiscated. For example, iron ore pellets worth up to $47 million were kept at the port of Kokkola on the west coast of Finland because the EU banned all imports of iron and steel products from Russia and Belarus in March. About 1.5 million dollars of acetic acid was also frozen.

Finnish authorities also seized more than 1,000 Russian freight cars, estimating the value of the carriages and the goods inside at tens of millions of dollars. The commercial director of the Finnish state railway company VR said that the seized carriages occupied about 20 kilometers of track.

In addition to Finland, many European countries including Italy, France and Spain have confiscated luxury assets such as yachts of Russian tycoons. On May 19, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU was seeking to use confiscated Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine.