Finnish authorities seize Russian cultural centre in Helsinki
Finnish enforcement authorities have seized a science and culture centre in Helsinki, which is owned by Russia. According to the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, citing information from the national land register, the property takeover is linked to compensation claims by the Ukrainian company Naftohaz.
The building, with an area of over 2,973 square metres, was seized last week, marking the first such case in Finland. The Finnish newspaper notes that the seizure of Russian property has thus far been regarded as a 'measure of exceptional nature.
Naftohaz claims
Naftohaz, which owned infrastructure and resource stocks in Crimea annexed by Russia in 2014, obtained a ruling from the arbitration court in The Hague in April last year.
The court ordered Russia to compensate the Ukrainian company over 5 billion euros for lost assets. Since Russia has not paid the dues, Naftohaz aims to freeze Russian assets in various countries.
The Russian Science and Culture Centre in Helsinki was established in the 1970s by the KGB's Department of Cultural Relations. The building, with a façade adorned with a mosaic depicting the sickle and hammer, housed, among other things, a cinema hall and a library. After the collapse of the USSR, the centre's mission was to ensure that "Every Finn has an opinion about Russians" – wrote "HS" in a report from a few years ago.
