Finland will return Russian works seized at customs

The problem concerning Russian-owned works of art held up by Finland at customs has been resolved. These were a shipment of works that were returning from a number of exhibitions in Italy and Japan, including those loaned for the major exhibition on the Grand Tour held at the Gallerie d’Italia in Milan’s Piazza Scala, which closed its doors as scheduled last March 27. Among the works seized by Finnish customs was Antonio Canova’s famous Winged Cupid, one of the masterpieces of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. As we had reported on these pages, Finland had seized the works, whose total value amounted to 42 million euros, because of a doubt: in fact, Finnish customs wanted to clarify whether Russia’s state-owned works of art were among the luxury goods affected by Article 3H of European Council document 02014R0833-20220316, which contains the updated list of sanctions against the Russian Federation.

The matter was unblocked today: works of art stopped at the Vaalimaa border crossing between April 1 and 2 (although the news was released several days later) will be allowed to resume their journey to Russia. Finnish customs made it known in a note that last night theEuropean Union adopted an amendment to the sanctions regulation, which will later be published in the Official Gazette, and which allows the transfer of works of art between museums upon a permit granted by a competent authority (in Finland’s case this is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). The ministry can therefore grant a permit for the works stuck in Vaalimaa, Finnish Customs points out, and after the permit is granted Customs will “immediately assess the situation,” the note says. “If it is no longer necessary to keep the artworks under seizure as evidence for the preliminary investigation, Customs will cancel the seizures, and then the release of the artworks will be possible as a result of the cancellation.”

Finland’s Foreign Ministry has already let it be known in a statement that it will grant permission for the works to be restarted as soon as the sanctions changes take effect, which is tomorrow, April 9, 2022. “It is good that the sanctions regulation has been amended to better fulfill its purpose,” said Sami Rakshit, director of law enforcement at Finnish Customs. “Customs is entrusted with the control of all cross-border goods traffic and related sanctions. Our activities are always based on existing legislation. This is how we proceeded last weekend when we intercepted shipments containing works of art, and we will continue to do so in the future so that the enforcement of sanctions agreed at the EU level remains effective.” Customs will release more information on this once the regulation goes into effect and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will issue an exceptional clearance for the seized consignments.

Russia is confident it can get the works back as early as next weekend, Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova said on her Telegram channel. “The Ministry of Culture,” Lyubimova says, “has already started organizing the return of the collections. It is expected that the works will return to the Russian Federation next weekend.” European authorities, she added, “can authorize the transfer or export to Russia of cultural goods on temporary loan within the framework of official cultural cooperation with Russia. We thank our colleagues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Russian Embassy in Finland, and the FCS (Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation) for their joint operational work and assistance in communicating with the Finnish authorities.”

Finland will return Russian works seized at customs

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.