Peskov commented on the freezing of accounts of the Finnish embassy

Moscow’s decision to block the accounts of the Finnish representation in Russia is a response to Helsinki’s unfriendly actions. This was stated by the press secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov.

“This is not an initiative move on the Russian side. We are reacting to the situation created by the authorities of a number of countries of the collective West, including, to our regret, Finland. We always say that we cannot and will not leave unfriendly actions unanswered,” he said.

Peskov stressed that in relations between Russia and Finland, Moscow will continue to be guided by the principle of reciprocity. “The principle of an adequate response to unfriendly steps will continue to prevail in our relations,” he said.

Formerly Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed on blocking the bank accounts of their representative offices in Russia. Then it was about the accounts of the embassy in Moscow and the consulate general of the republic in St. Petersburg. The Finnish Foreign Ministry confirmed to the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper that the assets were frozen and the country could no longer use them.

Embassy of the Russian Federation in Helsinki reported after that, Russian diplomats were given the opportunity to use only Nordea bank since the autumn of last year and the transfer of funds required a “long authorization process” as well as a “prohibitive commission of 5,000 euros”. Based on the principle of reciprocity, Finnish diplomats were given the opportunity to use a Russian bank VTB when making payments to ensure the work of representative offices.