Sanctions Finnish citizenship could protect oligarchs from forced listing – The President was also interested in the matter, says Erkki Tuomioja

Russian The Finnish citizenship acquired by the oligarchs may have affected their exclusion from EU sanctions.

Since the takeover of Crimea in 2014, the EU has imposed sanctions on several Russian oligarchs.

Helsingin sanomat newspaper has tried to find outwhy in Finland influenced the president Vladimir Putin nearby oligarchs have not ended up on the EU sanctions list. Among other things, they have been left out of the list Gennady Tymoshenko, Boris Rotenberg and Roman Rotenbergall of whom have Finnish citizenship.

Tymoshenko was not subject to EU sanctions until after the war in Ukraine in February 2022. Boris and Roman Rotenberg are still not on the EU list.

All three have been subject to US sanctions since 2014-2015.

Finland the relationship with the oligarchs resurfaced on Thursday when the former president of estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves tweeted on the subject. According to him, Timtšenko and “one Rotenberg” were excluded from the EU sanctions list by the then Finnish Foreign Minister. Erkki Tuomiojan (sd) due to activity.

Tuomioja served as Foreign Minister in 2011–2015.

According to Ilves, Tuomioja opposed the forced listing of certain oligarchs using the veto, ie the possibility of removing the proposed names from the EU list.

“It wasn’t a bet to remember. I will not be able to answer because I do not have any papers or memoirs on this matter, ”says Tuomioja, who urges to investigate the events through the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

According to the European Commission, each member state can make proposals, changes or use its veto over sanctions lists when preparing the sanctions list. All countries must accept the names proposed for the list.

Tuomioja he says he does not even remember the names of the oligarchs under consideration.

“Sanctions against Finnish citizens had to be clarified legally,” he says.

“This was related to the fact that these were Finnish citizens. That was just the question. It was a legal issue in my opinion, and not a political issue. ”

Tuomioja points out the president Sauli Niinistö name. Niinistö began his first presidency in 2012.

“I don’t want to shift responsibility anywhere, but that was something that interested the president as well. This size [pakote]question, ”says Tuomioja.

HS asked Niinisto how he had been active in the matter. The President says that he remembers that at some point there has been a debate about whether Finnish citizens on the EU’s sanctions list can be prevented from entering Finland.

He says, however, he does not remember when such discussions took place.

According to Niinistö, the issue was considered because in Finland, citizenship and dual citizenship are also a “sacred thing”.

“The problem could have been that the person is not allowed on the ground. That we have a weird mess. ”

Niinistö says he remembers that there was “quite a lot of difference” between the US and Finnish sanctions lists from 2014 onwards.

“The list of Yankees was pretty much wider.”

Have you ever taken a stand on these people (Timtsenko and the Rotenberg) when it comes to sanctions?

“I have not taken any position that the lists were approved as such when they came from the EU.”

According to Niinistö, the lists prepared in the EU were finally approved in Finland “as is” in tp-utva. It is a joint meeting of the Committee on Foreign and Security Policy of the President of the Republic and the Government.

For entry In the end, the related issue did not have to be resolved, as Tymoshenko, the first Finnish citizen, has only been on the EU sanctions list for less than a month. It is known that he is the only Finnish citizen on the EU list.

“I think so [kielto tulla Suomeen] is still a pretty interesting question. It has to be completed by someone, ”says Niinistö.

EU Sanction decisions are made by the Member States and the EEAS proposing the names of persons and entities for the list. Member States will then assess whether there are grounds for listing.

In Finland, in addition to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ Russia unit, there are other Ministry officials who use diplomatic contacts to compile lists of names.

In the end, Finland’s views are decided by the political leadership.

In several In European countries, it has been possible to acquire citizenship in many different ways, including with money. Cyprus, for example, is known “Their golden passports”.

On Friday was reported about how the oligarch Roman Abramovich gained Portuguese citizenship in 2021 by appealing to its Sephardic ancestors who were deported 500 years ago from Portugal. The relevant law is now to be amended.

Boris Rotenberg was reportedly granted Finnish citizenship on the grounds that his wife at that time had Ingrian ancestry. The family moved to Finland in 1991 as Ingrian returnees.

Tymoshenko moved to Finland in the 1990s and acquired Finnish citizenship in 1999. At that time, Finnish law did not allow for dual citizenship and in return Tymoshenko should have renounced Russian citizenship. However, he also still has Russian citizenship.

HS tried to clarify the matter in 2014 by asking the Finnish Immigration Service for documents related to the case, but almost all documents were encrypted.

Following HS’s appeal, the case was brought before the Supreme Administrative Court, which upheld the negative decision.