The embassy in Finland was only able to receive three transfers in 9 months

The Russian Embassy in Finland for the period from March to December last year was able to receive only three money transfers. This is due to the restrictions and sanctions of the European Union, RBC was told in the diplomatic mission.

“In March-December 2022, the embassy managed to receive only three bank transfers. Despite the regime of extreme savings, we are faced with a lack of funds to pay for utilities and other services,” the embassy said. Service problems began last spring after EU sanctions imposed in response to the military operation in Ukraine .

“The Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has given us permission to use an account in one of the Finnish banks. But then we began to systematically encounter ever-increasing obstacles. Since the fall of 2022, a situation has arisen where, in order to make each payment to our account, it was necessary to carry out a lengthy approval procedure that dragged on for several months, ”the diplomats explained.

Moreover, for each operation to transfer money to the account of the embassy, ​​you need to pay a commission of €5,000.

The day before, the Finnish Embassy in Russia accused Russia of violating the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, as Moscow froze the accounts of the diplomatic mission. The Foreign Ministry called these accusations absurd, pointing out that Finland was the first to start imposing restrictions on the Russian embassy.

“Our actions are a mirror response to similar restrictions on Russian foreign institutions in this northern European country, which can only use an account in one of the Finnish banks,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told RBC .

“We believe that before accusing Russia of violations, our Finnish colleagues should assess the situation with the observance of the provisions of the Vienna Convention in their country. We informed them about the situation with banking services, which jeopardizes the normal functioning of our embassy,” the Russian embassy added.