Finland Freezes Russian Oligarch Arkady Rotenberg's Account

The Helsinki City Court of Appeals has annulled a lower court's decision, allowing the freezing of a €1.3 million account belonging to Russian oligarch Arkady Rotenberg. The case concerns a transaction involving the purchase of mineral fertilizers from a Finnish company based in Dubai.

According to Finland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the funds were intended for "the Russian oligarch included in the EU sanctions list," Finnish media reports.

In the presentation to journalists, the story appears as follows: a Finnish company purchased fertilizers from a Dubai-registered firm, Agricultural Minerals DMCC. The transaction amounted to nearly €324,000. The majority of Agricultural Minerals DMCC is owned by Russian oligarch Arkady Rotenberg.

As early as October 2021, the court had placed a lien on €323,000 in favor of Dubai's Agricultural Minerals DMCC, ruling that Rotenberg had direct or indirect access to these funds. Evidence accepted included an investigation by media outlets, which indicated that the Dubai company actually operated on behalf of the Russian joint-stock company "Minudobreniya," which is subject to Rotenberg.

Despite the appellate court requesting Agricultural Minerals to provide documentation proving that the money would not be transferred to or utilized by the sanctioned individual, such documents have not been submitted.