"As a result, Finnish railroad operators themselves and Traficom approached the Finnish Foreign Ministry with a proposal to transfer the cars back to Russia. This decision was made 'on an exceptional basis' in mid-November," Loginov said.
Russia's trade office in Finland and the national railroad operator Russian Railways maintain contact with companies that own the freight cars in order to assist the dialogue with the Finnish authorities and facilitate the return, the envoy said.
"To date, more than 80% of the detained cars have been returned to Russia," Loginov said.
In November, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom said that it would return to Russia over 800 freight cars stranded in the country due to various sanctions, as supervision requires significant expenses and administrative resources. In addition, the freight cars’ presence in Finland poses risks to national security, the agency said at the time.
Finland, along with other Western countries and their allies, has rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Russia after it launched its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24.