Building of Russian Consulate General to be Demolished in Finland

The local government of the Finnish city of Turku plans to acquire the former Russian consulate building and later demolish it. Presumably, a new kindergarten will be built on the site.

This information is reported by Yle.

According to the report, the decision to purchase the consulate was unanimously approved by the city council. Currently, the city has already reached an agreement to purchase the building from the current owner, Senate Properties company. The deal's price is 1.6 million euros.

After the acquisition, as per the municipality's decision, the Russian consulate building will be demolished. Subsequently, remediation work will also be carried out directly on the land, as a foundry and galvanizing plant were located here in the 1900s.

Overall, the land plot covers an area of 3,500 square meters, with the consulate building occupying 2,000 square meters. The city authorities decided to implement the purchase decision immediately, without waiting for any appeals.

It is worth noting that information about the closure of the Russian consulate in the city of Turku, Finland, was published this July. The decision to revoke the business license of the Russian consulate from October 1, 2023, was a response to the closure of the Finnish Consulate General in St. Petersburg.

Earlier, in June, Finland expelled nine Russian diplomats on suspicion of espionage in favor of the Russian Federation. All of them were Russian intelligence officers. Finland classified the actions of the Russians as a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

The Gaze reported that the Finnish government agreed to streamline the procedure for confiscating property owned by Russian citizens. The current legal procedure required notifying the owner of the application of the confiscation procedure regarding their property. However, many Russian citizens avoided such notification and ignored other legal obligations, including not paying utility bills, taxes, and fees for months.

It is expected that the law will be refined and adopted by the government by mid-2024. At the same time, according to Finnish officials, if similar situations continue to escalate, the consideration of the draft law will be significantly expedited.