On April 8, it emerged that Finland would return Russian artworks seized by Finnish customs. Finnish customs had stopped three shipments of artworks worth around 42 million euros ($46 million) to check whether they were classed as luxury goods and were therefore subject to economic sanctions. Exceptions for cultural artifacts in the European Union sanction rules will become effective on April 9, after which the foreign ministry will grant customs officials permission to release the artworks, the ministry said.
