Finland blocks three Russian property acquisitions.

Finland blocks three Russian property acquisitions. On Wednesday, the Finnish Ministry of Defense announced that it had halted three real estate transactions, one involving a Russian-owned company. The government claimed that approving the acquisitions may make it more challenging to defend Finnish territory.

Citing identical considerations, the government banned three planned real estate deals involving Russian purchasers in October.

According to a statement from the ministry, the judgments included two properties in central Finland, Sotkamo, and one in the southeast Finnish town of Ilomantsi.

The potential purchaser of the Ilomantsi land was the company that the Russians partially controlled. According to the ministry, different businesses with various owners had purchased the Sotkamo real estate piece twice.

If the real estate transactions in Sotkamo had anything to do with Russia, it was unclear at first. Further information was not immediately available from the Finnish Ministry of Defense.

In reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Finland attempted to restrict Russian citizens’ ability to own real estate close to strategically significant sites through legislative measures that went into effect at the beginning of 2023.

The right to examine transactions done by businesses based outside of the European Union and European Economic Area belongs to the Finnish authorities.