Context: On October 12, 2026, the EU Council adopted the largest single expansion of its sanctions list in history, adding 826 Russian companies and 743 individuals who head those businesses. According to the EU Council, they are involved in Russia’s military-industrial complex. The restrictions include an asset freeze and a prohibition on providing funds or economic resources to the individuals and companies on the list. Individuals on the list are also barred from entering the EU.
On October 4, 2026, Ihar Kazaroz appeared on the Nashe Vremya program on Belarus 4 Gomel TV. He stated that the Finnish economy was dependent on Russia and that the sanctions destroyed several industries at once.
“The Finns have a strange attitude toward the Russian Federation. 63% of their economy was based on the service sector, and the service sector relied on Russians. That’s gone now. In the machine-building industry, they used to sell everything to the Russian Federation. When sanctions were imposed, everything disappeared. The timber industry, one of the best in Europe, used timber from Russia. Now that’s gone, too.”
Indeed, certain sectors of the Finnish economy relied heavily on ties with Russia. However, Kazaroz exaggerated the extent of this dependence.
Although the service sector accounts for about 70% of value added in Finland, it has not relied exclusively on Russian customers. Since 2015, Russia has accounted for approximately 4-5% of Finnish service exports. Russia ranked seventh among buyers in 2019 and fourteenth in 2021. After the onset of full-scale warfare and subsequent sanctions, service exports to Russia plummeted by more than 12-fold, from nearly €600 million in 2021 to less than €50 million in 2025. Meanwhile, Finland’s total service exports rose by almost 40% over the same period. In other words, losing the Russian market did not cause the industry to collapse.
Finland’s service exports grew from €29,075 million in 2021 to €39,852 million in 2025. Exports to Russia fell from €578 million to €46 million, and Russia’s share of exports dropped from 2% to 0.12%.
The claim that Finland sold all of its machinery products to Russia is also at odds with reality. Russia accounted for approximately 6% of Finland’s exports of machinery and transportation equipment in 2021. Shipments to Russia had fallen to nearly zero by 2025, but total exports of these products had grown by about 11%.
Finland’s exports of machinery and transportation equipment rose from €21,401 million in 2021 to €23,817 million in 2025. Shipments to Russia fell from €1,370 million to €9 million.
The forest industry was more dependent on Russian supplies. In 2021, wood from Russia accounted for about 12% of the wood used by Finland's forest industry. . The use of timber declined by approximately 8% after Russian supplies ceased. However, the forest industry continued to operate.
The use of round timber in Finland’s industry decreased from 72.2 million m³ in 2021 to 66.1 million m³ in 2025. Source: luke.fi.
