Estonia, citing security concerns, has ordered the cancellation of the sale of a power grid management building to a Russian citizen, writes ERR News.
The Estonian Consumer Protection and Technical Supervision Office (TTJA) has ordered the cancellation of the sale of the Viru Power Grid Control Center building after concluding that the deal threatens the electricity supply to consumers in the region. The building was purchased by Russian citizen Aleksey Rumyantsev.
The deal provided that Rumyantsev would purchase the building, which houses the power grid control center, from Kirde Varad, a subsidiary of Viru Keemia Grupp (VKG). It serves 30,000 consumers. The building monitors the supply of electricity to a nearby magnet factory and border infrastructure, as well as a residential buildings in Narva and a nearby resort town.
Elektrivõrk was sold to the private investment fund BaltCap in mid-2022, but the control building was not sold in the transaction, as the buyer believed that the asking price for it was too high.
Rumyantsev’s company M-NAR Kinnisvara purchased the building last year for 550,000 euros.
After the sale, the management of the control building of Elektrivõrk conducted background research on Rumyantsev, pointed out that the buyer was a Russian citizen and filed a lawsuit in court, emphasizing that the transaction should not have taken place at all. After it was decided that the case was unfounded, Elektrivõrk turned to several state institutions, including the TTJA, which initiated proceedings based on the Foreign Investment Reliability Assessment Act.
The process continued until the end of 2025, when it was decided that the transaction should be canceled.
Rumyantsev, a former army officer who moved to Estonia in the 1990s, has said he will not appeal the decision, although he considers it unfair.
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