At a press conference held on April 6, 2022, the head of the customs supervisory department, Sami Rakshit, outlined the factual side of the matter regarding the detention of exhibition cargo.
It was reported that the cargo was detained on April 2, 2022 as sanctions, on the basis of EU Directive No. 428/2022 of March 15, 2022 due to its alleged belonging to group 97 of the product nomenclature.
The customs requested an opinion from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, which was given by the department on April 3, 2022, based on the information available at that time. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the conclusion dated April 3, 2022 as preliminary.
Based on the conclusion received, the customs authorities of the Republic of Finland opened a case. During the preliminary investigation, the exhibition cargo was detained, and it was especially noted that we were not talking about their confiscation: the cargo was detained as part of the normal customs investigation procedure.
The boxes with exhibits have not been opened to date and are in the storage room of the Athenaeum Museum.
Next, Teemu Sepponen, head of the export supervision department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, spoke at the press conference and confirmed that the preliminary conclusion dated April 3, 2022 was given on the basis of information available at that time.
On April 4, 2022, the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs received additional information, in particular from the Italian and Russian sides. Mr. Sepponen thanked everyone who provided such information.
Sepponen said there was no doubt that the detained cargo was the property of the Russian state as part of its cultural heritage. Accordingly, it is subject to the provisions of the United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property of December 2, 2004 on State immunity from coercive measures before and after a judgment (Articles 18, 19 and 21). Finland has been a party to the UN Convention since 2014 (signed on September 14, 2005, ratified on April 23, 2014). The Convention is respected as a rule of customary law.
Mr. Sepponen once again assured that the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that the standards of the Convention apply to the detained exhibition cargo.
However, taking into account that on 03/15/2022 the EU approved Regulation 2022/428 on restrictive measures, supplementing EU Regulation No 833/2014, the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a request to the European Commission (Brussels) regarding the situation surrounding the detention of exhibits. The Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs an unambiguous interpretation of the provisions of the Directive in order to understand its applicability in the situation under consideration.
Teemu Sepponen said that Finland is committed to resolving the situation as quickly as possible, but did not give an exact time frame for such a resolution.”
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A press conference was held in Finland about the seizure of art objects, including from the Hermitage.
It was announced that customs detained works of art heading to Russia via Finland at the Vaalimaa border crossing over the weekend. Sami Rakshit, Director…
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