Rt.com reports: “Russia, which is waging a war of aggression in Europe, has demonstrated its readiness to take advantage of the various soft spots it finds in Western societies. Border security, critical infrastructure, and real estate holdings must be protected in advance so that destabilization of society cannot be achieved through them,” the minister stated.
He speculated that Russia “can also try to use real estate holdings for some sort of influence campaigns.”
“It is difficult to control and assess in advance what kind of holdings can cause problems. That is why we plan to start with a complete ban, to which we can consider providing exceptions,” Hakkanen added. He also noted, however, that the legislation is a work in progress still far from being finalized.
Hakkanen said earlier that he expected the changes to cover not only the sales of property but also rentals. The working group is expected to devise the legislation by March 31, 2024. Moscow has not yet commented on this development.
Finnish authorities have blocked four property sales to Russians on security grounds so far. Three occurred in October 2023, and one more involving a “partially Russian-owned company” earlier in January. According to media reports, Helsinki has also been considering confiscating real estate already owned by Russians.
No comments:
Post a Comment