The war in Ukraine has entered its third year, but that has not stopped railway transports of Russian nickel and fertilisers to Finland, even after the government closed all checkpoints on the Russian border.

In short, things that are not explicitly forbidden are still allowed. Finland follows rules about EU sanctions on Russia, but Russian nickel and fertilisers are not currently included in the scope of these sanctions.

Both are critical raw materials. Western countries consider them necessary for global food security and industrial purposes, especially in terms of the green transition.

Nickel is used in a wide range of products, including stainless steel, batteries and even mobile phones, for example.

Finland has not made a separate decision regarding the import of these materials. Fertiliser and nickel transports from Russia generally pass under the umbrella that there is no hard rule prohibiting them.

Russia's richest man

Arriving from Russia, the nickel heads to the Nornickel Harjavalta plant on Finland's west coast, the only large-scale nickel smelter in the EU. The factory is also part of the giant Russian mining and metallurgical Nornickel conglomerate.

Nornickel's biggest owner is Vladimir Potanin, an oligarch often associated with Russian president Vladimir Putin. He is also the richest man in Russia and has been sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, but not the EU.

The copper extracted during the nickel refining process in Harjavalta is exported back to Russia for further processing within the Nornickel conglomerate.

No sanctions, business as usual

The fertilisers are meanwhile transported from Russia to the Port of Kotka. According to information obtained by Yle, the loading of these fertilisers is handled by a Russian-owned port operator, Fertilog. The company has not responded to Yle's requests for an interview.

North Rail, a subsidiary of Nurminen Logistics, a Finnish transport company, moves the nickel and fertiliser from the Vainikkala border station on the eastern border.

Yle's investigation found that investors in North Rail have Russian links. Pensions firm Ilmarinen meanwhile has a 14.92 percent stake in Nurminen Logistics.

Mikko Mursula, Ilmarinen's chief investment officer, weighed in on the pension firm's stake via email.

"By being an active investor, we can influence our investment targets… we do not accept facilitating Russian trade by circumventing sanctions," Mursula wrote in his message to Yle.

Back in 2022, Helsinki University Russia expert Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, raised the alarm on the nickel trade with Russia.

"This whole raw materials business is a key financier of Putin's war machine," he said.

Strikes not delaying transport

The ongoing political strikes have not impacted the fertiliser and nickel transports either, even though the strikes have halted railway freight traffic.

When asked about this, Nurminen Logistics justified these transports as being carried out during the strikes at the behest of Finnish authorities, under a 'protection principle'. The term refers to work aimed at protecting life, health or property that would be endangered during labour disputes.

Yle contacted all of the state agencies and government ministries dealing with rail permits but none said that special provisions had been made.

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