Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that it summoned the Finnish ambassador in Moscow to protest the seizure of Russian state properties in connection to a Ukrainian lawsuit.
A Finnish court ordered the confiscation of $4.25 billion in Russian-owned assets at the request of Ukraine’s national gas provider Naftogaz. The order relates to a ruling last year by a Hague-based arbitration court, which ordered Russia to compensate Naftogaz $5 billion for assets seized during the annexation of Crimea.
Naftogaz, which previously said it does not expect Moscow to comply with the court ruling, called it the first publicly known successful asset freeze outside of Ukraine.
Authorities in Moscow accused Finland’s national enforcement authority of confiscating 45 properties, including those used by Russia’s Embassy in Helsinki and protected by diplomatic immunity. Finnish media earlier reported on the seizure of the Russian Center of Science and Culture in the Nordic country’s capital.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it summoned Finnish Ambassador in Moscow, Maria Liivala, “demanding that the Finnish side review this illegitimate decision as soon as possible.”
“If necessary, the Russian side will take retaliatory measures,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, accusing its Finnish counterparts of ignoring previous notes of protest lodged by the Russian Embassy in Helsinki.
Russia’s embassy said earlier that half of the confiscated assets were diplomatic property, including “country houses and apartments where diplomats reside.”
The Kremlin has vowed to contest Finland’s seizures using “all legal means.”
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