Finland confiscated almost a thousand Russian freight cars due to EU sanctions

Finland has seized nearly a thousand freight cars belonging to Russian companies due to European Union sanctions.

This was reported by Reuters with reference to the Finnish railway operator VR Transpoint.

Bailiffs arrested 865 railway cars from Russia. They also froze the assets of several dozen Russian and Belarusian companies, including transport companies, worth at least €82 million.

The head of VRʼs logistics department told reporters that approximately 5,000 Russian wagons were in Finland when the government decided to limit rail traffic between the countries. According to VRʼs statement, the wagons wanted to be sent back, but bailiffs ordered some of them to be seized.

Some of the seized wagons belong to companies directly under EU sanctions. Others are the property of shareholders who were also included in the sanctions lists after the start of Russiaʼs full-scale war against Ukraine.

One of the companies whose property was seized appealed to the Finnish court regarding the "illegal" actions of the Finnish bailiffs. Russian Railways declined to comment, and the Russian Ministry of Transport did not respond to journalistsʼ requests for comment.