Finland is among the countries that support and consistently advocate for stronger sanctions against Russia. However, its trade statistics for 2026 have painted a contradictory picture: after a significant decline in Finnish-Russian trade volumes, imports from Russia have begun to rise again. The reason is the increased purchase of Russian nickel, which is not subject to European Union sanctions because there are no viable alternatives to meet the needs of Finland’s high-tech industry (for example, the production of batteries and special steels).
According to data from Finnish Customs published by the news agency Yle on 23 July 2026, in January–April of that year Finland imported goods worth €285 million from Russia — approximately €15 million, or 5%, more than in the same period of 2025. The largest commodity group was nickel ores, concentrates and other derivatives of nickel metallurgy, valued at around €237 million. As a result, more than 80% of all imports from Russia during this period consisted of nickel products.
The recipient of this raw material is Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta Oy (Nornickel Harjavalta) — a nickel-cobalt refining plant in the town of Harjavalta in western Finland. The facility has been operating since 1960 and for a long time belonged to the Finnish mining and metallurgical group Outokumpu. In 2000 the group sold its nickel business to the American company OM Group, and in 2007 the plant was acquired by the Russian group Norilsk Nickel. On its official website the company states that after the acquisition its production capacities were adapted specifically to process Russian raw materials from the Nornickel group.
In Nornickel’s annual report, the Harjavalta plant is described as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Russian group, Finland’s only nickel refining enterprise, and one of the largest nickel refining plants in Europe, with an annual capacity estimated at approximately 66,000 tonnes of products. The plant produces nickel cathodes, briquettes, powders, salts and solutions, as well as cobalt sulphate and an intermediate copper product containing palladium and platinum.
The production link with Russia is not limited to formal ownership. According to Nornickel’s own reporting, in 2021 the plant produced 47,200 tonnes of nickel, of which more than 44,100 tonnes, or about 94%, came from Russian raw materials. In 2020 the share was similar: of 63,400 tonnes of nickel produced, more than 60,100 tonnes were obtained from Russian feedstock.
The parent company is controlled by structures linked to Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin, who heads Nornickel and is its largest shareholder. Another major co-owner remains the aluminium group Rusal. Notably, Potanin himself is under sanctions by the United Kingdom and the United States, but not by the EU — a situation explained by the significant dependence of European manufacturers and the automotive industry on Russian nickel.
After the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions, Finland’s total imports from Russia fell from roughly €9 billion a year to around €1 billion. Nevertheless, trade in goods not covered by sanctions did not stop; its core consists of nickel raw materials and ammonia. Yle reported on 23 July 2026 that these two categories formed the bulk of Russian imports.
The EU has introduced bans on the import of many types of Russian metals and products, but the basic flows of nickel raw materials for Harjavalta were not covered by the embargo. Even the 21st sanctions package, approved by the EU Council on 23 July 2026, primarily expanded the ban on exports to Russia of special nickel powders, metals and alloys that can be used in engines and the defence industry; it did not provide for a general halt to the import of Russian nickel into the EU.
The consequence of this sanctions exemption is that Russian nickel, after deep processing at the Harjavalta plant, legally becomes a product of Finnish origin. The international organisation Global Witness has described this scheme as a channel through which metal mined in Russia continues to reach Western markets, noting that the plant’s operations with Russian raw materials are legal because the EU has not imposed sanctions on Nornickel or on the import of Russian nickel as such. At the same time, the supply chain remains opaque, as Nornickel does not publish a full and exhaustive list of Harjavalta’s end customers in Europe and worldwide.
According to Global Witness, most of the Finnish plant’s output is exported. Among the identified European recipients were the Belgian group Umicore, the Luxembourg-registered commodities trader Traxys, Britain’s Johnson Matthey and Germany’s BASF.
The exclusion of unprocessed nickel and the Nornickel concern from direct embargoes, due to the critical dependence of the European automotive industry and “green” energy on this raw material, remains the main sanctions loophole of the EU. This allows the Finnish plant Nornickel Harjavalta to import Russian metal without hindrance; after processing, the metal acquires the legal status of an EU-produced product. As a result, European industrial giants, including suppliers of battery materials such as BASF and Johnson Matthey, continue in practice to purchase Russian nickel under the guise of Finnish product, generating millions in profits for the structures of Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin. Tellingly, the plant’s website does not disclose all of its customers in the EU, stating only that they are numerous industrial producers.
The Harjavalta case illustrates the main contradiction of European sanctions policy: the EU restricts Russian oil, coal, steel and certain types of metal products, yet allows the supply of nickel, which generates revenue for the Russian concern, its shareholders and ultimately the Russian budget that finances the war in Ukraine and hybrid influence operations against the West. Until the EU establishes clear rules for determining the origin of processed raw materials, ensures transparency of end consumers, and finds alternatives to Russian nickel, the sanctions will remain half-hearted and will not achieve their maximum effect.