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Sweden’s actions in respect of Russian diplomatic assets unlawful — Foreign Ministry

Earlier Sweden’s Supreme Court ruled to deny consideration of Russia’s complaint over the unlawfulness of the auction on the enforced sale of Russian trade mission's building in Stockholm
Russian Foreign Ministry  ITAR-TASS/Gennadiy Khamelyanin
Russian Foreign Ministry
© ITAR-TASS/Gennadiy Khamelyanin

 

MOSCOW, September 4. /TASS/. Sweden’s actions in respect of Russian diplomatic real estate are unlawful and run counter to international law, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharov said on Friday, commenting on the situation around the building of Russia’s trade mission in Sweden.

On September 3, Sweden’s Supreme Court ruled to deny consideration of Russia’s complaint over the unlawfulness of the auction organized by the Swedish Enforcement authority on September 12, 2014 on the enforced sale of Russian trade mission's building in Stockholm, which enjoyed diplomatic immunity.

"We consider such actions of the Swedish side in respect of Russia’s diplomatic real estate as unlawful and running counter to basic norms of international law," she stressed. "We hope the Swedish authorities will take all necessary measures to ensure inviolability, security and normal functioning of the Russian mission in strict conformity with Sweden’s liability under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and will not provoke response measures in respect of the Swedish side."

In October 2010, a Stockholm court ruled to arrest the residential house of the Russian trade mission on demand of German businessman Franz Sedelmayer, who claimed a sum of about five million euro as compensation for his investments lost in a joint investment project with Russian authorities in St. Petersburg in the early 1990s. In July 2011, Sweden’s Supreme Court lifted the Russian trade mission’s sovereign immunity status, since the majority of its residents did not enjoy the diplomatic status. On September 12, 2014, the Russian trade mission’s building was auctioned off for 12 million kronas (1.3 million euros). The sale marked the third attempt to sell the building.