HELSINKI: Finland’s government on Thursday proposed a ban on property purchases by nationals from countries that initiate wars, meaning in practice that real estate transactions by Russian citizens will be restricted.
It recommended that “persons whose country of nationality is waging a war of aggression and may pose a threat to Finland’s national security” would not be permitted to buy real estate there.
“The government has just decided to submit a proposal to parliament to ban real estate transactions by Russians in Finland,” Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen told a press conference.
“Our aim is to strengthen the security of Finland and the Finnish people,” he added.
While the bill did not mention Russia explicitly, Hakkanen said the current security environment meant “Russia and Russian nationals and companies are the ones concerned.”
Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) eastern border with Russia last year blocked several real estate acquisitions by private individuals and companies linked to Russia, citing threats to national security.
According to Hakkanen, the bill aims to prevent property being used for “large-scale hostile influence,” such as enabling intelligence activities and various forms of sabotage against Finland.
Persons holding a permanent residence permit in Finland or a long-term European Union residence permit granted by Finland would not be affected by the ban.
To reduce the risk that the ban will be circumnavigated by so-called dummy purchasers — someone who buys property on behalf of another to conceal the aim of a purchase — the ministry said it “could impose an obligation to apply for a permit.”
Parliament is set to vote on the bill later this spring, according to Hakkanen.
Finland to ban Russian nationals from buying property: minister
https://arab.news/v6e39
Finland to ban Russian nationals from buying property: minister
- “The government has just decided to submit a proposal to parliament to ban real estate transactions by Russians in Finland,” Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen said
- “Our aim is to strengthen the security of Finland and the Finnish people“
Pope Leo to visit Italy’s Lampedusa island in July
VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV in July will visit the Italian island of Lampedusa, a landing point for migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa, the Vatican announced om Thursday.
The US pontiff has previously thanked the people of Lampedusa, which is just 145km off the coast of Tunisia, for the welcome they have given over the years to those who arrived, often on leaky, overcrowded boats.
Leo has also repeatedly spoken out against measures to clamp down on illegal migration.
He called the US administration’s treatment of immigrants “inhuman.”
Leo will visit Lampedusa on July 4, as part of a program of visits within Italy this summer, which includes a trip to Pompeii on May 8, the anniversary of his election, the Vatican said.
On May 23, he will meet pilgrims in the so-called “Land of Fires” in Campania, a southern Italian region blighted by toxic waste dumped by the mafia.
Leo’s predecessor, Francis, chose Lampedusa for his first official visit after becoming pontiff in July 2013.
In a definitive speech of his papacy, Francis denounced what he called “the globalization of indifference,” and the defense of migrants became a cornerstone of his papacy.
Leo became the first US head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics last May following Francis’s death.
In October, Leo said states had a right to protect their borders but a “moral obligation” to provide refuge.
“With the abuse of vulnerable migrants, we are witnessing, not the legitimate exercise of national sovereignty, but rather grave crimes committed or tolerated by the state,” he said, according to a speech published by the Vatican.
“Ever more inhuman measures are being adopted — even celebrated politically —that treat these ‘undesirables’ as if they were garbage and not human beings.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government has taken a tough line on irregular migration, restricting the activities of charity rescue boats and seeking to speed up returns of people who fail to qualify for asylum.
Her ministers last week agreed on a new draft law that would allow the imposition of a “naval blockade” to stop migrant boats from entering Italian waters.
Almost 2,300 migrants have landed on Italy’s shores so far this year, compared to 5,600 in the same period in 2025 and 4,200 in the same period in 2024.
Yet many die trying to make the crossing, with at least 547 lives lost along Mediterranean routes so far this year, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration.
Leo, who was born in Chicago and spent two decades as a missionary in Peru, has said he loves to travel.
He spent many years on the road when he served two, six-year terms as the superior of his Augustinian religious order, which required him to visit Augustinian communities around the world.
Pope Leo himself has said he hopes to visit his beloved Peru, as well as Argentina and Uruguay, trips that could happen toward the end of the year.
