The art had been confiscated by Finnish customs officers a few days before, but the Finns and European Union officials concluded that art given to museums for the exhibition was not subject to sanctions.
The Finnish foreign ministry announced on Friday that it had permitted the return of three shipments of Russian art that had been on loan to museums and galleries but had been seized by Finnish customs authorities on their way back to Russia.
The artworks and sculptures, worth 42 million euros, were on loan from Russian museums to Italian and Japanese institutions. They were apprehended at Vaalimaa, a Finnish border crossing, last weekend on suspicion of violating European Union sanctions imposed in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a telephone interview, Hanni Hyvärinen, a spokesperson for Finland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the decision was made in consultation with European Union officials. The ministry said in a statement that the union planned to exempt specific cultural objects from the fines.
“Legislative changes will take effect on April 9, 2022, and these changes will include the ability for member states to issue permits for the export or other transfer of cultural objects that are part of official cultural cooperation to Russia,” the statement said. The European Union on Friday said that it was amending existing rules to allow an exemption for “cultural goods which are on loan in the context of formal cultural cooperation with Russia.” It did not say why such cultural goods were being exempted.
The confiscation had raised serious concerns about how Europe would handle the return of art on loan from Russian museums, which had transported some of the world’s greatest art to shows in the West for decades, providing audiences with rare glimpses of cultural riches.
The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts provided works for the Chiba City Museum in Japan. The Russian authorities, according to Lyubimova, have already begun organising the repatriation of the collections.
The war’s long-term impact on museum relationships between Russian and European institutions is yet unknown.
