THREE FINNISH COMPANIES are set to be added to the entities list of the US Department of Commerce, reports Reuters.
The Department of Commerce on Monday announced export restrictions on a total of 28 companies, accusing some of them of attempts to supply drone components to GRU, the foreign intelligence arm of the Russian Ministry of Defence.
While the majority of the companies are Russian or Chinese, the new entries also include companies registered in Germany and Finland. Two of the Finnish companies, Luminor and Siberica, were added to what is also known as a trade blacklist about a fortnight ago, but the latest update also includes a company called Evolog, according to Helsingin Sanomat.
The list consists of entities that have been determined to be acting or pose a risk of acting contrary to the national or foreign security interests of the US.
“The [export administration regulations] impose additional license requirements on, and limit the availability of, most licence exceptions for exports, re-exports and transfers (in-country) when a listed entity is a party to the transaction,” reads the draft document about the additions from the Department of Commerce.
Helsingin Sanomat in mid-September reported that the same French national is behind both Luminor and Siberica, which operate in logistics and warehousing. The District Court of Eastern Uusimaa at the time detained the chief executive of the companies for probable cause of aggravated regulation offence and defence materiel export offence.
Evolog, meanwhile, describes itself as an international freight-forwarding company.
The Finnish companies are the first to have been added to the blacklist since Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to STT. Before the additions, the blacklist contained 10 companies registered in Finland.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
