Moscow summons Finnish ambassador following seizure of Russian art

Russia’s foreign ministry has summoned Finland’s ambassador to Moscow to protest Helsinki’s decision to confiscate works of art belonging to Russian museums.

The Finnish customs authorities announced on Wednesday that last weekend they prevented works of art worth about 42 million euros from returning to Russia due to the sanctions imposed by the EU in Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. They also added that they would ask for clarifications from Brussels on the status of these works of art as luxury products.

Finland, meanwhile, has said it will invest up to 850m euros to meet its energy needs and accelerate its decommissioning of oil and gas imports from Russia, the government announced today.

Finland, which has invested in nuclear energy, is less dependent on energy imports from Russia than other European countries, but the government wants to cut off its latest ties with Moscow.

In 2019, Finland imported from Russia 22% of the oil needed to meet its energy needs, as well as 7% of coal and 5% of natural gas, according to official figures.

In co-operation with Estonia, Finland will rent a floating liquefied natural gas terminal to stop Helsinki from importing gas from Russia, Finnish Finance Minister Mika Lindila said today.

“After that we will have enough to operate independently,” he explained.

At the same time, the Finnish government has indicated that it will temporarily reduce its measures to tackle climate change in order to reduce the effects of rapidly rising energy prices, although its long-term goal remains to accelerate Finland’s transition to green energy through investment.