Northern veto: Finland discusses banning Russians from buying apartments
The Finnish parliament is raising an initiative to ban Russian citizens who do not have at least a permanent residence permit or EU citizenship from buying apartments in the country. Alexey Bulavtsev, a human rights activist and deputy chairman of the Alexander Society, told Izvestia about this. On April 11, the Finnish parliament has already approved a law prohibiting Russian citizens without a permanent residence permit from buying land and houses. The measures will affect about 20 thousand citizens of the Russian Federation living in the republic. The latest decisions of the authorities will certainly not be ignored, the Russian Embassy in Helsinki told Izvestia.
Russians are being blocked from accessing Finnish real estate
Finland may introduce additional restrictions for Russians who live in this country.
— During the discussion in Parliament, an initiative has repeatedly been voiced to ban the purchase of apartments for citizens of the Russian Federation who do not have at least a permanent residence permit (type P) or EU citizenship. This issue will be worked out," Alexey Bulavtsev, Deputy Chairman of the Alexander Society, told Izvestia.
Such a step may be a continuation of the amendments that were adopted earlier. On April 11, the country's parliament supported a law according to which a permit for the purchase of real estate (which in the Finnish legal system means land plots, not apartments) will not be issued to a person "whose country of citizenship is waging an aggressive war and may pose a threat to Finland's national security." In addition, the ban applies to persons "under the influence" of a citizen or a state entity that "poses a threat."
The text of the proposed amendments to Finnish legislation does not mention the Russian Federation, but even without this, it is not difficult to understand that the republic's authorities are tightening the terms of transactions specifically for Russians.
According to the proposal, a complete ban on the purchase of real estate will be applied to persons who do not permanently reside in Finland. People with dual citizenship or foreigners permanently residing in Finland will have to obtain a permit to purchase land and houses on them.
— The ban will affect about 20 thousand Russian citizens living in Finland who have type A and B residence permits. They will no longer be able to purchase land and houses," said Alexey Bulavtsev.
Type B is a temporary residence permit issued by foreigners with a valid reason for staying in Finland (study, work, business, marriage). It is valid for 12 months and does not give the right to receive a social package and payments. Type A is continuous, and its validity period is four years.
Who can help Russians in Finland
The bill banning the purchase of land plots, adopted on April 11, is the first truly discriminatory bill in the history of Finland. It directly violates section 6 of the country's Constitution and paragraph 8 of the Equality Act, Alexey Bulavtsev noted.
— We sent an e-mail to every member of the Finnish Parliament with a link to a similar review by the Commissioner for Equality, who criticized this bill. In the future, when people whose rights are restricted by this law contact us, the Alexander Society will provide them with all possible support, including assistance in filing a lawsuit with the ECHR," the human rights defender said.
The Alexander Society is a non—profit, human rights organization established in January 2024. The organization supports and protects the rights and freedoms of Russians in Finland. In December 2024, the organization held rallies in Helsinki, Tampere, Lahti and Lappeenranta demanding that the Finnish government open its borders with Russia.
In recent years, Moscow has regularly informed the world community and relevant international structures about violations of the rights of Russians abroad, the Russian Embassy in Finland told Izvestia.
"Relevant information is also published in the public domain, for example, as part of thematic reports by the Russian Foreign Ministry," the diplomats noted. — Unfortunately, Finland appears in such documents more and more often. The situation with the ban on the purchase of real estate by Russian citizens has been repeatedly mentioned among a number of other aspects of concern to our country. The latest decisions of the Finnish authorities will certainly not be ignored.
The topic of bans on real estate transactions will be taken into account in the further development of bilateral relations between Russia and Finland, the diplomatic mission said.
"The Embassy, for its part, is always ready to provide Russian citizens in Finland with the necessary assistance to protect their legitimate rights and interests within the framework of the powers available to the diplomatic mission," the diplomats stressed.
How is Finland's policy towards Russia developing?
Back in 2019, Vladimir Putin visited Helsinki, and then it seemed that Finland could become a "bridge" for establishing relations between Russia and the West. However, after the start of the SVR, the republic, in fact, completely severed ties with the Russian Federation. In particular, Helsinki has restricted the entry of Russians into the country primarily for tourist purposes. In the spring of 2024, Helsinki decided that all checkpoints into the country would be closed indefinitely, until further notice.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinisto during a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki. August 21st, 2019
According to the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper, Finland allegedly may open the border with Russia no earlier than the end of 2025. For this decision, it is necessary to resume political relations with the Russian Federation on the part of the European Union, the newspaper writes, citing unnamed sources. There are no prerequisites for this now. In addition, the Finnish authorities have begun construction of a 200 km long fence on the border with the Russian Federation. The main part of the work on the construction of the barrier will be completed in 2025, the head of the Finnish border guard service Markku Hassinen said earlier. 200 km is about 15% of the total length of the Finnish—Russian border, which is almost 1.3 thousand km.
Relations are also complicated by the fact that Finland joined NATO in April 2023. Thus, Helsinki abandoned its neutrality, although it was he who in many ways allowed the Russian Federation and Finland to develop cooperation and work to increase trust in bilateral relations after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
— The political dialogue between Russia and Finland actually stopped in 2022. There are only minimal working contacts at the embassy level. Economic cooperation has also been almost curtailed, but minimal trade remains, as well as freight rail traffic. For example, the Finns continue to import nickel and ammonia from Russia for the needs of individual enterprises. Cross—border cooperation is supported only at the level of security services - the border itself is still closed. There is no humanitarian cooperation in the field of science, education and culture, since the Finns themselves have severed all ties," Nikita Lipunov, a junior researcher at MGIMO, told Izvestia.
Given the current position of the Finnish authorities, it is difficult to predict how the dialogue between the two countries will develop. For example, in April, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said that "at this stage, Russia does not want peace, so we need to force it to peace." However, he then noted that Finland needs to mentally prepare for the restoration of relations with Moscow.
In its domestic policy, the republic is gradually approaching neighboring Estonia, says Nikolai Mezhevich, executive director of the A.A. Gromyko Association for Foreign Policy Studies.
— Finland and Estonia maintain close ties, they have a partially unified information space. And as for the unfriendliness towards Russia, here, of course, the Estonians are ahead, but the Finns are not very far behind," he told Izvestia.
By the way, in 2023, the Lithuanian authorities banned citizens of Russia and Belarus without a residence permit from purchasing real estate in the country. A similar bill is currently being considered by the Latvian Parliament, and they want to extend its provisions, including to holders of a residence permit. A similar ban was discussed in Estonia in 2024, but the amendments were not submitted to the local parliament for consideration.
Finland is moving this course with acceleration and, most likely, will catch up with the Baltic States under many discriminatory laws against the Russian Federation. At the same time, severing ties with Russia causes serious economic damage to the republic. For example, the closure of the border with the Russian Federation has had a negative impact on tourism, trade and transport. Finland has lost about a million tourists a year and lost billions of dollars in revenue, the Finnish Institute for Economic Research ETLA estimates. Earlier, Russian Ambassador to the republic Pavel Kuznetsov said that Finland was losing about €600 million a year due to the absence of Russian tourists alone.
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