Russian attack Lithuanians raised millions of euros to get Ukraine a Bayraktar plane – Could Finns do the same?

Homeland|The Russian attack

This weekend it was reported that in just over three days, Lithuanians had amassed five million euros for Ukraine. The money will be used to buy an unmanned military aircraft for Ukraine, which is fighting a full-scale attack on Russia, which began in February.

The Turkish Bayraktar TB2 aircraft, which will be raised with raised funds, is a weapon that Ukraine has already used effectively against the Russians. Ukraine has already bought about 40 armed Bayraktars.

“This is the first time in history that ordinary people are raising money for an acquisition like Bayraktar. This is unprecedented and at the same time incredible, ”said the Ukrainian Ambassador to Lithuania. Petro Beshta to a local TV channel.

“Before the war started, hardly anyone believed we would buy weapons. But that is normal now. Something needs to be done to improve the world,” said the Lithuanian. Agne Belickaite news agency Reuters.

He donated a hundred euros to the fundraiser.

“I have been donating money for Ukrainian weapons for some time, and I will continue to win.”

The Lithuanian Ministry of Defense is responsible for purchasing Bayraktar donated by Lithuanian citizens. The ministry plans to send a procurement letter to Turkey next week.

Could you the same thing will happen in Finland?

In principle, yes, says a professor of administrative law at the University of Helsinki Olli Mäenpää.

If funding were sought to be raised as a fundraiser, Mäenpää would consider its success very unlikely. Fundraising must have a non-profit purpose.

“In principle, the acquisition of such military weapons can probably not be considered in accordance with the requirement of a public benefit purpose. This is where the interpretation would come from,” Mäenpää says.

However, crowdfunding makes it possible to raise funds for a gun. Lithuanians collected funding precisely as crowdfunding, which is regulated by the EU crowdfunding regulation. It defines substantially less stringent conditions for fundraising than the fundraising law. This regulation also applies in Finland, compliance with which is supervised by the Financial Supervisory Authority.

Mass financing is intended to finance the business. However, companies can use crowdfunding for very different financing purposes, Mäenpää says. The company must be licensed and meet certain solvency requirements. However, a fundraising company may also be non-profit.

“The regulation doesn’t really specify the purpose of crowdfunding, nor does it require that the purpose be in the public interest or somehow morally valuable. Crowdfunding can be raised for a fairly wide range of things.”

The only condition is that crowdfunding cannot be raised for criminal or illegal purposes.

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Mass financing makes it possible to raise funds for a weapon.

If If a company started to raise mass funding for the weapons system to be delivered to Ukraine, Mäenpää estimates that it would also require the approval of the Finnish Defense Administration and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

“If individuals start arming another state, then of course it can come up against a wall. Are we going to go into an area that is contrary to Finland’s international commitment? I can’t say exactly, but I think we would have to think about this.”

In any case, some official body should be involved in the process. In Lithuania, too, the money is donated to the state, which buys the plane from a Turkish company.