Finland claims that customs agents confiscated artwork worth millions of dollars in shipments bound for Russia in breach of European sanctions.
Three shipments of paintings and sculptures were stopped over the weekend at Vaalimaa, a border crossing between Finland and Russia, according to Tulli, Finland’s customs office.
Officials claimed the artwork were being relocated from museums in Italy and Japan, where they had been on loan from Russia. Despite the fact that some of the works are “priceless,” Customs Enforcement Director Hannu Sinkkonen revealed at a news conference that the paintings had been appraised at more than $46 million for insurance purposes.
“Professionals have been consulted in the moving and storage of the goods,” Sinkkonen said. “We are not going to open the packages.”
According to the Finnish customs service, the works will be housed in a warehouse for the time being, and will be stored depending on their worth, qualities, and safety.
Images on the company’s website show wooden crates of various heights and sizes labelled “fragile” with labels written in Cyrillic.
The customs agency is also looking into the case, as is Finland’s foreign ministry, which says it will discuss it with the European Commission. Officials said the probe will include data collecting, international collaboration, and calls for mutual help.
A restriction on the sale and transfer of artwork is among the European Union penalties imposed against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. According to Reuters, art is deemed a luxury item by Sami Rakshit, director of the Finnish Customs Enforcement Department.
“The enforcement of sanctions is part of our normal operations and we always direct our controls based on risks,” Rakshit said in a statement. “The shipments that have now come under criminal investigation were detected as part of our customary enforcement work.”
Officials told reporters that ten persons are accused of transferring the art in violation of penalties.
According to Reuters, the pieces of art were lent to Italy from prominent Russian institutions such as the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, while those loaned to Japan came from Moscow’s Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.
The discovery comes little over two weeks after Finnish customs police confiscated 21 boats believed to be owned by Russian billionaires and others barred from entering the EU.
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