Finland refused to follow EU recommendations to seize Russian cars

Cars with Russian license plates can still enter Finland, the country's Foreign Ministry said. The Russian Embassy previously recommended refraining from traveling to Finland by car due to EC clarifications on sanctions

Finland has decided not to follow the recommendation of the European Commission to ban Russians from entering EU countries in cars with Russian registration and license plates, Yle reports with reference to the Finnish Foreign Ministry.

Reports that cars with Russian license plates will not be able to enter Finland or will be confiscated are untrue, said Pia Sarivaara, HEAD of the sanctions department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Cars with Russian license plates can still enter Finland. If a different decision is made, we will announce it in advance,” she said.

Finland, which has a land border with RUSSIA, banned the entry of Russians with Schengen tourist visas in the fall of 2022. You can still enter the country for a number of reasons - for example, holders of work visas or family members of EU citizens.

Despite the current restrictions, as of the end of July, almost 1 million crossings were recorded on the Russian-Finnish border, half of which were by Russian citizens.

On September 10, the European Commission explained on its website the rules for applying existing sanctions (no new documents were adopted). According to these clarifications, entry into the EU countries by passenger cars registered in Russia will be regarded as a prohibited import if the car falls under customs codes from Annex XXI (including code 8703, which covers passenger cars and other vehicles intended for the carriage of less than than ten people).

At the same time, a representative of the European Commission later clarified to RBC that each EU country will decide for itself how to implement the sanctions .

Some sanctioned personal items may fall into the category of prohibited goods, even if they are imported by tourists. Among them are cosmetics, shower products, toothpastes, soaps, women's suits and dresses with skirts, shoes, smartphones, cameras and other things (more than 160 items in total).

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After Brussels’ clarification appeared, the Russian Embassy in Finland warned about the risks of car seizures. The diplomatic department recommended not to travel to the country in cars with Russian license plates.

Russian authorities have repeatedly emphasized that they consider Western sanctions illegal. Acting head of the Federal Customs Service Ruslan Davydov called the ban for Russians on the import of personal belongings “complete lawlessness,” but ruled out a mirror response. At the same time, the head of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, Andrei Klishas, ​​said that “only reciprocal restrictions on EU citizens can influence the enraged European bureaucrats and influence the abolition of such discriminatory rules.”