The Daily Populous Tuesday June 2nd, 2026 evening edition
Authored by yle.fi and submitted by EspritLibre_404

After a previous asset seizure worth tens of millions of euros in 2024, the Russian Embassy in Helsinki sent a formal note of complaint to the Finnish Foreign Ministry (file photo of the embassy).

The National Enforcement Authority has seized 3.7 million euros to compensate a Ukrainian energy firm for Russian destruction of its property.

The National Enforcement Authority of Finland has seized almost four million euros from the Russian state this year.

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

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.

Major court decision in The Hague

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.

StatsFactsRants on June 2nd, 2026 at 08:59 UTC »

4M Euro is a drop in the sea.

But it's a start, I suppose.

ergo14 on June 2nd, 2026 at 08:44 UTC »

4m is peanuts.

Evig_Vandrar777 on June 2nd, 2026 at 08:36 UTC »

Seize more. Russia is still occupying land from Germany, Finland, China, Georgia, Ukraine and many others.

If Russia can randomly take land and say that it’s theirs, then we can also seize Russian assets and say that they’re ours. Sticking together makes us so much stronger than Russia.