Finland eases sanctions against Russian cultural centre

Finland’s Foreign Ministry has allowed the Russian Centre for Science and Culture (RCSC) in Helsinki to pay property taxes of about 20,000 euros.

"The Finnish Foreign Ministry has eased sanctions against the Russian Center for Science and Culture operating in Helsinki," the business publication Kauppalehti quotes the ministry as saying in a statement.

The ministry said that the payment of taxes is an authorised exception to the EU sanctions to meet the basic needs of the parties.

The Foreign Ministry emphasised that the bank accounts of the Finnish diplomatic mission in Russia are still frozen.

On April 18, it became known that the Finnish authorities decided in connection with the EU anti-Russian sanctions to arrest the land and building of the RCSC and seven apartments in Helsinki.

On April 19, the Finnish authorities lifted the arrest from the building of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Helsinki.

Later, the Russian Embassy in Finland sent a note to the Foreign Ministry demanding clarification of how the actions of the bailiffs relate to the norms of international law on the immunity of Russian state property.