The Finnish publication Yle announced a new way for the Russians to bypass sanctions. A “secret weapon” was launched – Russian grandmothers who bypass shopping sanctions by traveling in minibusses, and at the same time taking out kilograms of products. Which are not sanctioned – and the Finns cannot “dig in” on them.
We are talking about tourists who come from Murmansk to Finnish Nyayatäme. “Bigger buses just come to us. Passengers on the buses are elderly women, so-called “kilomumu” (something like kilogram grandmothers, and as the Finns claim, the Russians themselves use this expression), who shop according to a clear plan. You can export goods with a maximum value of 300 euros and a weight of 20 kilograms per grandmother,” the publication’s authors said.
The head of the sanctions department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Pia Sarivaara, has already “saved” Russian women and admitted that it is “difficult to interfere” in this shopping tourism.
“They buy products that are not subject to sanctions. From the point of view of sanctions, this is legal,” he said. However, he does not rule out that the so far legalized buses with a capacity of more than 10 people do not carry contraband.
“I don’t understand the current sanctions, they are so easy to circumvent,” says one of the interviewed Finns when looking at the Russian bus. At the same time, many consider grandmothers to be “victims” and are sure that “things do not go to the people who bought them.” The publication even assures that some things, for example, mass-purchased shoes, are sent to the front by the Russians.