OREANDA-NEWS. Finnish state-owned railway operator VR Group will sell all Russian assets, including freight subsidiaries, and terminate contracts with Russian Railways, according to the organization's website. The company noted that the process of terminating contracts with the Russian side has already begun.

Termination of contracts as part of the plan has begun, and traffic will be completely stopped no later than the end of the year, the report says.

Contracts can only be terminated by mutual agreement of the parties, since the effect of Western sanctions does not apply to railway communication between Russia and the European Union.

According to CEO Topi Simol, some customers want to continue transportation until the end of existing agreements. He assured that the VR Group will seek to negotiate a faster termination of contracts. The company expects traffic to drop to about a third of its original level by the end of the summer. It is noted that the cessation of traffic coincides with the deadlines when contracts with Russian Railways expire.

VR Group has also started negotiations to sell or reduce its stake in Finnish subsidiaries ContainerTrans Scandinavia (CTS) and Freight One Scandinavia (FOS). In addition, VR Group has begun negotiations on the sale of its Russian subsidiary Finnlog, the organization added.

CTS provided container shipping and forwarding services between Finland and Russia. FOS specialized in freight and full rail transport between the two countries, while Finnlog leased the wagons to VR Transpoint's key customers in Finland and operated the wagons in import timber shipments between Moscow and Helsinki.