Finland Plans to Ban Russians From Buying Real Estate

Russian citizens may no longer be eligible to buy properties in its neighboring country Finland as the latter’s authorities are preparing a draft legislation that, if approved, may terminate such practice.

Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen (NCP) has confirmed that the Finnish Ministry of Defense is preparing draft legislation that could impose a total ban on Russians interested in buying real estate in Finland,Schengen.News reports.

Minister Häkkänen said the ministry has been preparing the bill over the summer months, and will likely address it to the government for further consideration in early autumn. In addition, he added that the law reform would be treated as a priority.

The implementation of the legislation means that Finnish authorities would be allowed to restrict the same of properties within Finland to internationals under specific circumstances, but it is considered as a means of halting Russian nationals from purchasing Finnish real estate, in particular those with links to Kremlin, according to a report from Yal.

Last week, a 61-year-old businessman was halted from buying a property in Sysmä, in the south of Finland. According to local media reports, the businessman was of Swiss and Russian nationality.

Minister Häkkänen said that in the past six months, several similar attempts by Russians to buy properties in Finland (where the buyer’s background raises concerns related to potential transactions) were prevented.

Local media reports noted that the buyers were either citizens of Russia or dual Russian nationals, while the ministry suspects they were connected to the Russian government or organized crime groups.

When it comes to Russia, authorities in Finland have imposed several stricter rules amid potential security concerns.

As part of efforts to halt instrumentalized migration, Finland closed its border with Russia. Recently, the Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said that the country has no plans to reopen the border anytime soon.

Last month, Finland implemented a law to stop asylum seekers from reaching the country via Russia.

Under the new changes, border guards are allowed to block asylum seekers from reaching the country and deprive them of the right to appeal.

Authorities in Finland said the act would be in force for 12 months.

However, the new changes were not unanimously welcomed. Some human rights organizations have criticized the move. They argue that the new law fails to solve a fundamental problem in the east, which is the closure of all crossings along the entire 1,300 km of the Finnish-Russian border, violating the freedom of movement.

Source : https://schengen.news/finland-plans-to-ban-russians-from-buying-real-estate/