MOSCOW. April 2 (Interfax) - The Russian Foreign Ministry does not comment on the reports saying that major Finnish businessman Seppo Remes has been denied entry in Russia, saying such decisions on foreign citizens are a sovereign right of any country.
"We have never commented on that and we are not going to do it in such situations. Granting permission to enter and depart the territory of a country is a sovereign right of this country," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told a briefing in Moscow on Thursday.
The Russian media earlier reported that the Russian Federal Security Service had denied Seppo Remes entry to Russia for five years. Remes is an independent board member of several large Russian companies and an investor in the Russian energy industry.
According to the media reports, the Federal Security Service said the reason for the entry denial is that Remes "is collecting information on the heads of energy companies with state capital."