It’s easy to understand the frustration of Finnish Teboil franchise owners. For years, they’ve built their businesses, served customers, paid taxes, and created jobs. Now their livelihoods are at risk — not because of any mistake of their own, but because of a geopolitical storm. From a human point of view, that feels deeply unfair.
But sanctions are what remain when words, agreements, and diplomacy can no longer stop war, occupation, and violence. Sanctions are not directed against Finnish entrepreneurs. They target the Russian state, its leadership, and the network that upholds a dictatorship and fuels war in Europe.
A Teboil entrepreneur interviewed by Iltalehti on October 23, 2025, nonetheless called the sanctions against Teboil in Finland unjustified. The entrepreneur doesn’t believe that money from Teboil’s fuel sales in Finland ends up in Russia, stressing that the Finnish Teboil is owned by a company registered in Switzerland — and assuming that the Swiss handle finances in a way that cuts off any ties to Russia.
It’s puzzling to hear claims that Teboil in Finland has nothing to do with Russia. Teboil is owned by the Russian oil giant Lukoil, and the Teboil brand is currently expanding in Russia. Only recently, Teboil Finland’s Russian CEO received an award from dictator Vladimir Putin.
In that light, it’s at best naïve to claim that Finnish Teboil is a fully independent, purely domestic company whose profits or losses have nothing to do with Russia — no matter how many layers of Swiss bankers or Nambian fakirs the ownership might pass through.
The ownership chain of Teboil clearly leads back to the Russian oil company Lukoil. According to media investigations, Teboil’s direct owner is the Swiss company Litasco SA, which is owned by the Austrian Lukoil International GmbH, itself owned by Russia’s PJSC Lukoil. In truth, one wouldn’t even need investigative journalism to reach that conclusion — every Teboil station and fuel pump displays the Lukoil logo in bright lights, along with the words “Member of Lukoil Group.”
It’s true that Finnish Teboil entrepreneurs are collateral victims. They’re paying the price for a war they didn’t start. But if we start claiming that sanctions are wrong simply because they also hurt ordinary business owners, we forget why sanctions exist in the first place.
The purpose of sanctions is to cut off funding channels, prevent energy profits from feeding the war machine, and demonstrate that aggression carries a cost. By insisting that Finnish Teboil has nothing to do with Russia, one ends up — however unintentionally — standing as a human shield for Vladimir Putin.
The distress of Teboil entrepreneurs is real. But honesty must come first. We have to acknowledge that Teboil is a Russian-owned company. And that sanctions, painful as they may be, are still necessary.
BACKGROUND: Teboil originated in 1934, when sea captain Skogström founded Trustivapaa Bensiini Oy. The company grew rapidly and, after an attempted sale to British Petroleum fell through, it came under the ownership of the Soviet company Sojuznefteexport in the 1940s. Another company, Suomen Petrooli Oy (previously German-owned) was transferred to Soviet ownership as part of Finland’s war reparations and became Teboil’s sister company under joint management. After the war, Finland began importing most of its oil from the East. In 1966, the company was renamed Oy Teboil Ab, and in 2005, it was acquired by the Russian-owned Lukoil.