Finland shares a 1,340km border with Russia and has recently also joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) to increase national security in the face of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
The Finnish government has recently put forward a proposal which will allow it to prevent most Russian citizens from buying property in Finland. The move, suggested by Defence Minister Antti Hakkanen, is also being seen as an attempt by the country to bolster national security.
The ban in question has the potential to be used against any funds or citizens from countries that may pose a threat to Finland’s national security, as well as those which the EU believes to have violated other countries’ territorial sovereignty.
If the ban goes through, it would mean that Russians who are also permanent residents anywhere in the European Union – not just Finland – as well as dual citizens who hold Russian citizenship, would not be able to buy property.
The legislation still needs parliamentary approval before it is passed. It will also need to go through a series of expert consultations.
Finland already has some legislation which allows the government to intervene in some property purchases and block them, if needed, on the grounds of national security concerns. However, a full ban is the first of its kind.
Helsinki recently moved to prevent Russians buying property near key areas of the city.
The country has experienced a boom in the number of suspicious Russian-owned properties in recent years, such as loss-making hotels, properties with helipads and other disproportionate fortifications and properties sited close to key Finnish infrastructure.
The Finnish government has increased its surveillance of these kinds of properties over the past few years, as more concerns about them being used to damage the country’s infrastructure, or being part of bigger operations have surfaced.
Finland has a lot of technological expertise to offer NATO
Finland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in April 2023, mainly because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, as the country shares a 1,340km border with Russia. This came after several years of Finland insisting it did not need to join NATO and insisting an independent defence policy would be better for the country.
At the end of August, Finland also revealed that it was coordinating with other NATO countries to send more troops to the Finnish Lapland.
Russian and Finnish relations deteriorated after Finland accused its neighbour of weaponising migration by encouraging migrants to go enter Finland through its borders with Russia. This has caused pressure for Finnish border control facilities.
Last year, at the informal meeting of NATO Defence Ministers at the Vilnius Summit, Hakkanen said: “We take very seriously the responsibility to guard and defend our long border with Russia. The war in Ukraine has shown the integral role the defence industry plays in NATO’s defence and deterrence.
“We are taking actions nationally, regionally and within the EU and NATO, to rectify the situation created by the low level of investments during the past decades.
“The security situation requires us to even more effectively harness our industrial resources in support of Ukraine and our preparedness. Finland brings to NATO a lot of expertise on dual-use technologies and innovation potential for future armament, such as quantum and 6G communication technologies.”
