Finland confiscates Russian artworks worth $46M under Ukraine war sanctions

ANKARA

Finland has confiscated Russian artworks worth $46 million, including paintings and sculptures, as part of EU sanctions on Russia due to its ongoing war on Ukraine, a Finnish official said Friday.

Customs officials stopped paintings and sculptures belonging to Russia from crossing the Vaalimaa border gate into Russia, Sami Rakshit, director of the Finnish Customs Protection Unit, told reporters.

Noting that the works were intended to be returned to Russia via Finland after appearing in international exhibits in Italy and Japan, Rakshit said an investigation had been opened into the shipment.

The customs unit also underlined that the works of art have been put into storage for safekeeping.

Sergey Tsekov, a member of the Russian-controlled Crimean parliament, told Russian media outlets that it is illegal for Finland to confiscate the artworks, calling the move “theft.”

Saying that the EU, NATO, and all of Europe is going “crazy,” he stressed that artworks belonging to Russia are not being allowed to return to the Russian museum.

In 2014 Russia illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, in a move condemned by the UN General Assembly, the EU, and Turkiye. Some analysts have said the move, in which Moscow illegally claims Crimea as a part of Russian territory, was a prelude to the current bloody war.

The Russia-Ukraine war, which started on Feb. 24, has drawn international outrage, with the EU, US, and UK, among others, implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

At least 1,611 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 2,227 injured, according to UN estimates, with the true figure feared to be far higher.

More than 4.3 million Ukrainians have fled to other countries, with millions more internally displaced, according to the UN refugee agency.

* Writing by Merve Berker