Finnish firm says sanctions list lists Russian firms

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Finnish firm says sanctions list lists Russian firms

Helsingin Sanomat said on Tuesday it had seen the documents cited by the radio channel, showing that they contain a list of Russian companies that have been highlighted in red or green depending on whether or not they fall within the scope of sanctions in the assessment of Metso Outotec.

Most of the over a hundred companies are highlighted in green, including Metalloinvest and Udokan Copper. Nearly half of the shares in the two companies are owned by Alisher Usmanov, an oligarch who is featured in the sanctions list of both the EU and the United States.

The EU cites Usmanov as one of the favourite oligarchs of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Vauramo stressed to YLE that Metso Outotec has carried out a sanctions-related assessment of all its clients and deliveries.

He commented to the public broadcasting company that we have done our own internal assessments and utilised external international law firms, which have evaluated the sanctions from the perspective of different legal systems.

Metso Outotec has only made deliveries to clients that are not subject to sanctions in Russia, he said. The deliveries have been continued in accordance with the commitments laid out in the wind-down agreements it has made in the wake of the invasion. The company is going to shut down its operations in the country in the coming months.

Vauramo said there were numerous contracts there that were naturally signed before the war started.

As the sanctions have been adopted, we have updated the situation and continued our deliveries based on wind-down agreements to the extent that the sanctions and other export regulations have made it possible. Between April and June, Metso Outotec made 67 million euro of deliveries to Russia. The recipients' names have not been revealed by the company.

Mikael Ruotsi, a legal officer at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs unit for public international law, told YLE that EU sanctions are binding for citizens and companies in the 27- country bloc. The sanctions regime prohibits participation in activities that aim or may lead to assets being made available to a sanctions-listed individual or entity.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs stated that the sanctions could be punishable under sections 1 3 of Chapter 46 of the Finnish Criminal Code.