Defense Minister says Finland is drafting a bill to ban Russian citizens from buying Finnish real estate | Yle News

Minister of Defence Antti Haakanen (NCP) said that in the past six months the Ministry of Defence had stepped in to prevent several suspicious purchases of Finnish real estate.

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Finland’s Ministry of Defense is working on draft legislation that could completely ban Russian citizens from buying real estate in Finland, the defense minister said. Antti Hakanen (NCP) told Yle.

The bill had been prepared by the ministry in the summer and would be submitted to the government for further consideration in early autumn, Hakanen said, adding that legal reform would be a priority.

If passed, the bill would allow Finnish authorities to restrict the sale of property in Finland to foreigners in certain circumstances, but it is seen as a means of preventing Russian citizens, particularly those with ties to the Kremlin, from buying Finnish real estate.

Yle reported earlier this week that Hakanen intercepts A property in Sysmä in southern Finland was sold to a 61-year-old businessman with dual Swiss and Russian citizenship. The potential buyer owns a company engaged in services for military activities.

Hakanen noted that his department had intervened in several similar attempts by Russian citizens to buy property in Finland over the past six months, but the backgrounds of the buyers raised concerns about potential transactions.

The buyers were either Russian citizens or dual Russian citizens, and the ministry suspected they had links to the Russian government or organized crime groups.

Hakanen said the Finnish Defence Forces knew the backgrounds and connections of most potential buyers, but current legislation did not allow authorities enough time to block all real estate transactions that could pose a threat to Finland’s national security.

For example, Russian oligarchs and weapons manufacturers Igor KesayevA person suspected of having links to the Russian security service, the FSB, has purchased an island in the Lake Saimaa region, about 100 kilometers from the Finnish-Russian border.

Finnish authorities Close monitoring Operated on Kesaev’s property.