Russian Embassy agrees to return Finnish passports

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The Consul-General of the Russian Federation made a promise to Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs on Monday that the Russian Embassy in Finland will return to their owners the Finnish passports that they have been withholding.
      The owners of the passports will have to collect their documents at the Consular Office of the Russian Embassy either personally or by authorizing a representative to pick them up by proxy. In either case, they will have to pay for the issuance of visas once more.
      The Russian Embassy in Finland has been withholding the passports of some Finnish citizens, as these travellers' Finnish travel agency Helpet-Trade Oy has not settled certain payments related to the issuance of visas by the Embassy.
     
Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs was informed on Monday about another 15 to 20 passports which the Russian Consular Office had refused to return, reported Hilkka Nenonen, the Head of the Passport and Visa unit of the Ministry's Legal Department. Previously, the Ministry was aware of only five withheld passports.
      According to Nenonen, at least one passport has been sitting at the Embassy since May, and the others since June or July. Some of the visas had been sought for urgent business trips, which then had to be cancelled or postponed.
      The Ministry for Foreign Affairs advises the passport owners to turn to the police if they want to get back the visa charges that they had already paid to Helpet-Trade.
      The Ministry itself has no previous experience of Helpet-Trade, notes Nenonen. Nevertheless, as far as she knows, the Russian Embassy has been cooperating with this travel agency for a long time. Since last Thursday, the travel agency has not been reached.
      The owners of the Helsinki-based travel agency, Irina and Jorma Ahokas, did not return the telephone calls of Helsingin Sanomat last week or yesterday - on Monday.
     
Nenonen does not know that any other embassy would ever have withheld passports previously. In any case, Finnish authorities do not have means at their disposal to intervene in the matter.
      Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs learned about the incident only in the middle of last week when the passport owners contacted the Passport and Visa unit of the Ministry's Legal Department. Since the end of last week, the Ministry has kept in tight contact with the Russian Embassy.
      The owners of the passports offered to pay the visa charges themselves already earlier, but their offer was accepted only after the matter became public on Monday.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Russian Embassy withholding Finnish passports (22.8.2005)

Helsingin Sanomat