Natalia Demina explained to DP why Russian courts rejected the couple’s lawsuit against the Finnish State Council

In 2017, the Ivanov couple purchased a plot of land with a house in Finland for 180,000 euros, which they subsequently used for holidays. However, in 2022, due to the tightened sanctions against Russia, the couple were denied entry to the neighbouring country. This circumstance forced the Ivanovs to file a lawsuit with the Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region against the State Council of Finland demanding to repurchase the property they owned and to compensate for moral damage. The Commercial Court returned the claimants’ application, stating that they were not deprived of the right to reapply. The appeal, cassation and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation agreed with the decision of the first instance.

“The plaintiffs appealed to the commercial court, citing Article 248.1 of the Code of Arbitration Procedure of the Russian Federation on the exclusive competence of the commercial court to consider sanctions disputes, since there is no objective possibility to appeal to a court of general jurisdiction, to the court of Finland, there is no other legal method of judicial protection of violated rights. But the courts of all instances refused the Ivanovs because there is no evidence that personal sanctions have been imposed on them,” Natalia Demina, Partner and Head of Private Wealth Practice at Maxima Legal, explained to the Delovoy Petersburg newspaper.

According to the expert, the most correct way to protect the rights of plaintiffs in this case would be to challenge the legality of the acts establishing restrictions on entry to Finland on the basis of nationality. However, the probability of such a successful legal challenge remains extremely low.

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