Finn on trial for Russian sanctions violation risks prison

HELSINKI: A Finnish entrepreneur went on trial on Tuesday accused of exporting trucks and trailers from Finland to neighboring Russia in violation of European sanctions, and faces up to four years in prison if convicted.
The man’s company, registered in the town of Lappeenranta near Finland’s border with Russia, is suspected of exporting 135 trucks and 29 trailers from Finland to Russia in 2022 and 2023, violating European Union sanctions imposed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The company had declared the vehicles were being exported to Kazakhstan or Turkiye via Russia — transit via Russia was allowed under the sanctions at the time — but in reality they were customs cleared into Russia by a company importing and reselling trucks, according to the charge sheet.
The imported trucks and trailers were worth 17.5 million euros ($20.3 million), and the company made a gain of 600,000 euros from their export, according to the prosecution.
The entrepreneur has been charged in Lappeenranta district court with an “aggravated regulation offense.”
The prosecutor has said he would seek a four-year prison sentence for the entrepreneur and a fine of 40,000 euros on his company.
The accused, who has been in custody since mid-March, has denied the charges.
Finland’s 1,340 kilometer (830 mile) border with Russia has been closed since December 2023 after the arrival of around 1,000 migrants without visas.