Finland to demolish Russian consulate building

The authorities of the Finnish city of Turku will buy the former building of the Russian Consulate General and then demolish it. As The Moscow Times informs with reference to Yle, the decision was unanimously adopted by the city council on Monday, November 27.

The municipality will pay 1.6 million euros for a 3,500 square meter plot of land on which a 2,000 square meter building was built in 1974. It will be replaced by a new building, presumably a kindergarten.

City services will have to clean up the soil on the site beforehand, as there was a foundry and a zinc factory on the site in the early 1900s.

The purchase decision will be honored regardless of its legal validity: the authorities will not wait to consider possible appeals.