Finland has formally protested to Russia after its embassy in Moscow was vandalized with graffiti and eggs, Finnish Ambassador Marja Liivala has said.
The incident occurred on Friday, according to the ambassador. Graffiti, written in Swedish, read “Aland is ours,” seemingly referencing the Aland Islands, a Swedish-speaking autonomous province of Finland. Eggs were also thrown at and over the embassy wall.
“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 disclose details about the diplomatic note, and declined to speculate on the motivation for the vandalism, Yle News reported.
However, according to Russian outlet RBK, the note reminded Moscow of its obligation to protect the embassy and ensure the safety of its staff.
This message followed a note that Moscow sent to Finland last week regarding Helsinki’s decision to seize Russian assets located in the Nordic country.
Around 40 properties, including a plot of land 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 pledged 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 revolves around a property that was nationalized by the Crimean parliament in March 2014 following the peninsula’s annexation by Russia.
Finland, long neutral, has witnessed a sharp deterioration in relations with Moscow since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Helsinki abandoned its neutrality and joined NATO the following year.
Earlier this year, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen urged other NATO members to allow Ukraine to use donated weapons to strike targets deep inside Russian territory.
Moscow has maintained a consulate in Mariehamn, the capital of the Aland region, since 1940. The islands, along with Finland itself, were part of the Russian Empire from 1809 to 1917, gaining independence after the Russian revolution.
The graffiti last weekend also included flowers and the letters “SD,” potentially referring 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 stating that the incident had no connection to the party.