The Finnish Ministry of Defense has completed work on a bill that prohibits Russians from buying and selling real estate in the country. Before that, Russians were deprived of property for utility debts. Who has already suffered from the actions of the Finnish authorities and who should prepare?

How Russians are losing their property in Suomi

The actors Lidiya Fedoseyeva-Shukshina, Elena Kondulainen And Alexandra Pashutina apartments in one building in the Finnish resort town of Punkaharju. They were. The artists lost them last fall due to the alleged bankruptcy of the management company. According to experts, according to Finnish law, the owners of apartment buildings in Suomi are the management companies, and residents only own their shares, which give the right to dispose of square meters. That is, no management company – no property.

In a conversation with Life.ru, the daughter Fedoseeva-Shukshina Olga confirmed that after a year nothing had changed – the Finnish side not only did not go to meet the victims of the internal problems of the owner of the house, but did not even react to what happened. As a result, the family was left with only memories of the property and beautiful papers with seals.

Lidiya Fedoseeva-Shukshina

It is known that after the bankruptcy of the management company, no one has been taking care of the building, it is disconnected from electricity and water supply and is gradually falling into disrepair.

Finnish real estate experts say that the artists can only get their property back in one case: if they buy shares in a new management company when (and if) it appears near the house. However, they are unlikely to receive compensation for the lost housing.

Besides them, the actors of the TV series “Deadly Force” also acquired Finnish real estate at one time. Andrey Fedorcov And Sergey Koshonin. The latter bought a 200-square-meter house in the Finnish city of Imatra for 200,000 euros on credit. After 2014, when the currency sharply rose in price, paying 500 euros for utilities and interest on the loan became too much. Due to a couple of late payments, the Finnish authorities began legal proceedings and eventually took the house away. According to Koshonin, he managed to invest about a quarter of a million euros in Finnish real estate.

And last fall, Finnish authorities seized the dacha of the former president of AvtoVAZ Boris Alyoshin. The property is worth 2.5 million euros. It is known that the Russian businessman acquired it in 2018. The reason for the arrest, apparently, was Aleshin’s inclusion in the EU sanctions list due to his work with military industry companies.

Actress Elena Kondulainen

What did the Finnish Ministry of Defence do?

The Finnish Ministry of Defense reported that the ministry had completed the development of a bill that would prohibit Russians from making real estate transactions. It has now been sent to experts for evaluation and will be submitted to the country’s parliament for consideration by the end of the year.

Despite the fact that the word “Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism)” does not appear in the document, the future law will apply to citizens of those countries who “violate the sovereignty of another state and at the same time may pose a threat to Finland’s national security.” And so that no one has any doubts about the addressee of the new restrictions, the Minister of Defense of Suomi Antti Häkkänen clarified that “in practice, it should be a neighboring country.”

In his opinion, which has already been voiced more than once in the Finnish media, the purchase of real estate in Finland by Russians is “part of Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism)’s efforts to influence the country and affects the security of the state.” Allegedly, Russians can conduct intelligence and even sabotage activities from the territory of their Finnish dachas.

The chart shows data on the number of real estate transactions in Finland involving foreign citizens. Russian buyers of Finnish real estate are shown in red. Data for 2024 is presented for the period January – April

These measures are not the first sign in the strategy of squeezing Russians out of Suomi. For example, since July 8 of this year, the country’s Ministry of Justice has already had the right to confiscate Finnish real estate from foreign owners if they do not pay for it: housing and communal services and taxes.

Obviously, this legislative initiative is tailored specifically for Russian property owners, since Finland closed its borders and stopped all payments to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) in September 2022. Russian citizens can no longer come to the country or pay for housing remotely (at least legally). Thus, it can be assumed that the campaign to seize other people’s property in Suomi may be massive.

We are talking about thousands of Russians. According to specialized Finnish resources, since 1994, Russian citizens have bought almost 6.7 thousand real estate properties in Finland for a total of over 740 million euros. In 2024, according to the Finnish Ministry of Defense, our compatriots still own about 3.5 thousand properties. However, many have already lost them, and the rest may be next in line after the innovations.

Finnish Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen

Russians are getting rid of Finnish real estate en masse

Russian real estate websites have recently been full of ads for apartments and houses in Finland. Sellers are willing to conduct the transaction in any currency, and many of them write that they are considering exchange options for something liquid: real estate in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism), cars, yachts, etc.

At the same time, the prices are surprisingly affordable. A two-room apartment of almost 50 square meters in Imatra is offered for 700 thousand rubles. For 50 thousand more, you can buy a hectare of land with a simple wooden house near Hamina, a city on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. For three million, you can become the owner of a four-room house of 100 square meters on a plot of 25 acres with a small pool and a sauna. As a bonus, the seller offers a motorboat and an electric motor boat.

One of the generous offers for a modest sum

The seller is cautious about the prospects of getting rid of the Finnish dachas that have suddenly become ballast – there are currently no Russians willing to invest in real estate in an actively militarizing NATO country, which has been introducing unprecedented barriers in recent years. The target audience for such ads is Russian citizens permanently residing in Suomi. They are not being touched yet, according to Antti Häkkänen, real estate transactions, at least for now, will not be prohibited for people with Russian and Finnish passports, as well as with a Finnish residence permit.

Why Finland’s Defense Ministry is in charge of real estate transactions

In the case of Finland, there is an assumption that may shed light on the sharp deterioration of the situation with Russian property in Suomi. Recently, the Finnish publication Iltalehti reportedthat not far from the Russian border, in the Finnish city of Mikkeli, a NATO ground forces headquarters will be established and an armored brigade of up to five thousand troops will be deployed. This news has caused a number of Russian experts to say that Finland has begun preparations for a possible military confrontation with Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism).

If this is true, then it is logical that real estate transactions are carried out under the strict control of the local Ministry of Defense. It is the military that decides whether the purchase or sale of a particular plot of land or apartment will be approved. Considering that Russian citizens have preferred to buy Finnish real estate in the east of the country all these years (most of the properties are located near the border), NATO military personnel do not need foreigners who can not only observe the arrangement of troops along the border, but also report this to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism).

Finnish media are actively monitoring Russian real estate sellers. According to Yle, Russian citizens living in Finland are currently buying summer cottages and houses at bargain prices. Almost half of the properties they bought in 2024 were sold for less than 30,000 euros.

Who got Russians hooked on Suomi

The fashion for Christmas holidays in the snowy forests of the country of Joulupukki was brought by Russian businessmen. There they bought up land by the dozens of hectares, on which luxurious mansions quickly grew.

One of the first buyers of Finnish real estate was Gennady Timchenkowho received local citizenship in 1999. Then, in the border town of Imatra, the local symbol of the city, the Rantalinna mansion, built before the revolution, a monument of European Art Nouveau, was acquired by a businessman from St. Petersburg Ramis Deberdeev.

On the islands of the archipelago near the city of Turku, a businessman Pavel Melnikov organized a large tourist business. There he owned almost 50 hectares of land and at least 17 real estate properties.

Rifat Shaikhutdinov

Among the landowners are also Duma deputies. In his declaration for 2020, the deputy from the LDPR party Rifat Shaikhutdinov indicated that he is the owner of half of a farm in Finland – the Pentilkuma estate is named after the imaginary setting of the novel by Finnish writer Väinö Linna “Here, under the North Star”. The 6.8 thousand square meter territory, built according to the model of the middle of the last century, houses a motel and a restaurant.

Following them, Russians from the artistic and show business communities flocked to Suomi – buyers were attracted by the natural beauty, clean air and relatively inexpensive real estate.