Media: Finnish customs began to withdraw currency from the Russians at the border

Finnish customs began to confiscate foreign currency from Russians at the entrance to Russia, reported publication “Fontanka.ru” with reference to a resident of St. Petersburg, who was returning to the country through Finland. The interlocutor of the publication said that he was faced with a seizure of cash at the Vaalimaa-Torfyanovka border checkpoint. After passport control, Finnish customs officers asked the Russian how many euros he was carrying in cash, and then seized his banknotes in the amount of 1,390 euros, citing EU sanctions.

After that, the customs officers showed the Russian an excerpt from the rules of the service, which states that “the export of banknotes of the official EU currency to Russia is prohibited.” Exceptions apply only to those citizens who bring euros into the country for personal use or are employees of diplomatic departments who have immunity in accordance with international law.

The ban on the export of euro cash from the EU countries to Russia, by analogy with the same bans on the export of dollars from the United States, was adopted by the EU authorities back in March 2022. Finnish Customs Control Department explained RBCthat the withdrawal of cash is justified by Article 5i of the EU Council Regulation. It prohibits the sale, delivery, transfer or export of banknotes denominated in any official currency of an EU Member State to Russia or to any individual or legal entity, organization or body in Russia.

Sergey Uchitel, a partner at the Pen & Paper Bar Association, notes that the main difficulty for Russians is that each EU member state has its own practice of applying restrictions on funds: the concept of “personal needs” and, as a result, the amount of cash that it is possible to freely export from the EU to Russia.

“Finnish customs proceeds from the fact that for personal purposes, currency is needed only within the EU, and in Russia it is not required. Therefore, everything remains at the discretion of a particular EU country and a particular customs officer, so there is a risk of cash withdrawal at the border,” confirms the expert.

Sergey Vodolagin, Managing Partner at Westside Law Firm, believes that Article 5i is worded in such a way that it can be applied with little or no restrictions if desired. “It is practically impossible to prove the purpose for which a citizen has cash, especially to a customs officer who is not disposed to accept your arguments,” he notes.

Vololagin thinks that in the future such withdrawal of funds may be recognized as unlawful in court, but this procedure can take many months and entail significant costs with unclear prospects. “It is possible that if you bring cash dollars to Europe, the reaction of customs officers may be different due to the fact that the regulation applies only to the currencies of the EU countries,” the expert concluded.

The actions of Finnish customs officers, who are actually engaged in the illegal seizure of cash from Russians, contrary to existing EU rules, are essentially a “financial racket”, says lawyer Andrey Shugaev. According to him, the EU has indeed significantly tightened the rules for the import and export of funds, but this is not a justification for withdrawing the euro from the Russians. “Innovations were launched as part of the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Now all persons crossing the border of the EU member states are required to declare any amount of cash in the amount of 10,000 euros, ”the lawyer notes.

Shugaev notes that appealing against such illegal actions is possible only in the courts of Finland, which nullifies the possibility of legally returning the seized funds.