Finnish embassy vandalized in Moscow

A diplomatic note has been issued to Russia following the “unpleasant” incident, Ambassador Marja Liivala has said

Finland has issued a diplomatic note to Russia after Helsinki’s embassy in Moscow was vandalized with graffiti and pelted with eggs, Finnish Ambassador Marja Liivala told news agency STT on Sunday.

The incident comes amid deteriorating relations between the two neighboring nations.

A wall surrounding the diplomatic headquarters was defaced on Friday, according to the ambassador. The graffiti, written in Swedish, read “Aland is ours,” in what appears to be a reference to the Aland Islands, a Swedish-speaking autonomous province of Finland. Eggs were also thrown at and over the wall.

Texten ”Åland är vårt” har klottrats på Finland ambassad i Moskva.https://t.co/pYq7ZCGhQP

— David E (@EngDvd) November 3, 2024

“The police intervened quickly and detained the perpetrators. There seemed to be five men involved,” Liivala told Finnish outlet Yle News. She said she had no information about the nationalities of the detainees.

The ambassador described the incident as “unpleasant,” adding that the graffiti was being removed and the wall repainted.

Liivala did not reveal any details regarding the content of the diplomatic note, and also declined to speculate regarding the motivation for the incident, Yle News reported.

According to Russian outlet RBK, however, the note reminded Moscow of its obligation to protect the embassy and ensure the safety of its staff.

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The message followed a note that Moscow sent to Finland last week in relation to Helsinki’s decision to seize Russian assets located in the Nordic country.

Around 40 properties, including a plot of land by the sea on the Aland Islands, were reportedly seized in October in response to a lawsuit filed by state-run Ukrainian oil and gas giant Naftogaz. Russia has vowed to legally challenge the confiscations.

Naftogaz is seeking to enforce a $5 billion arbitration award issued in its favor by the court at The Hague in April 2023. The case is centered on a property that was nationalized by the Crimean parliament in March 2014 shortly after the peninsula joined Russia following a referendum.

While Finland had remained neutral for decades, relations between Helsinki and Moscow deteriorated sharply after the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022. Helsinki abandoned its neutrality and joined NATO the following year.

Earlier this year, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen called on other members of the US-led military bloc to allow Ukraine to use donated weapons to strike targets deep inside Russian territory.

Moscow has had a consulate in Mariehamn, the capital of the Aland region, since 1940. The islands, as well as Finland itself, were part of the Russian Empire from 1809 to 1917, gaining independence after the Russian revolution.

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The graffiti last weekend also featured flowers and the letters “SD,” which was possibly a reference to the Swedish right-wing party The Sweden Democrats, Yle News said. The Swedish branch of the agency quoted the party’s press manager as saying that the incident had nothing to do with it.