Aki Virtanen, who leads the department at the Finnish Debt Collection Agency, announced that the detention order concerning the Russian Scientific and Cultural Center (RCSC) had been lifted. The information was reported by a Finnish television outlet, YLE, which is widely followed for official notices in Finland. The official statement came on the same day that authorities confirmed the removal of the temporary seizure from the building itself as well as from the surrounding site. Virtanen noted that the reasons behind the initial seizure of the property had not been publicly disclosed, leaving room for questions about the legal rationale that had been used to justify the measure.
In the days leading up to the decision, it was disclosed that Finnish authorities had extended the scope of the order to include the land and the structure housing the RCSC, along with seven adjacent apartments in Helsinki. The action was taken in the context of European Union sanctions aimed at pressuring Russia over its actions, a policy stance that Finland, as a neighbor and partner in the EU, has been careful to implement in cooperation with its allies. The moves drew attention to how financial and property measures are used within the sanctions framework and how they are enforced on the ground, sometimes prompting dialogue among involved parties about proportionality and legal safeguards.
Following the development, the Russian Embassy in Finland issued a formal note to the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs seeking clarification on how the bailiffs’ actions align with international law, particularly the protections that cover sovereignty and inviolability of state property. The embassy’s communication underscored that Russia considers such protections to be a matter of international law and consistent state practice, and it called for precise explanations regarding how the relevant norms are being interpreted and applied within the Finnish legal system. Finnish authorities were expected to respond to these concerns in the normal channels of diplomatic correspondence, aiming to provide transparency about the procedures and the legal justifications used in the seizure and its subsequent withdrawal.