Finland decided to return arrested freight cars to Russia

The Finnish government has decided to return to Russia freight cars that were arrested under anti-Russian sanctions, informs press service of the trade mission of the Russian Federation in the country.

“The authorized bodies of the Republic of Finland have decided to return to the Russian side the freight cars detained under the sanctions restrictions. As of the beginning of November 2022, more than 800 units of loaded and empty wagons were on the lists of detained vehicles,” the report says.

The trade mission added that the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom), as well as local railway operators, had previously sent a request to the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The fact is that the maintenance of a large number of wagons required significant financial costs.

In this regard, on November 15, the Finnish Foreign Ministry decided to “return the seized property in an exceptional manner for reasons of cost reduction and security risks for the country’s transport system.”

The press service noted that Russian companies have already begun to receive notifications about the removal of the arrest from railcars in Finland. The delivery of wagons to Russia is carried out by Finnish railway operators. At the same time, they called on companies whose cars were arrested, but who did not receive such notifications, to contact the trade mission.

On November 22, Vedomosti wrote that the Union of Railway Transport Operators (SOZhT) suggested that the Ministry of Transport prepare a draft resolution to compensate rolling stock operators for losses due to the retention of part of their freight car fleet in Ukraine and Finland. According to operators, cumulatively in Ukraine and Finland stuck about 16,000 Russian railcars. They estimate the maximum amount of compensation for their loss at 32 billion rubles.