Russian sanctions might keep Miley Cyrus from twerking in Finland

GlobalPost

What can stop Miley Cyrus twerking? Sanctions on Russia.

Cyrus’s sellout concert in Finland next month may be in breach of US sanctions on Russia following its annexation of Crimea, the Financial Times reported Thursday. 

It turns out the Helsinki venue where Cyrus is booked to perform is owned by a Finnish company controlled by three Russians who just happen to be on the US do-not-do-business-with-these-people list published two weeks ago.

Justin Timberlake and a bunch other American stars are also scheduled to perform at the Hartwell Arena in the coming months. 

Their concerts could be in jeopardy as well.

US promoter and ticketing agency Live Nation Entertainment made the bookings for Cyrus and Timberlake — presumably long before the Russians decided they wanted to seize Crimea from Ukraine. 

More from GlobalPost: 12 photos that explain why Russia is so crazy about Crimea

But the company could be blocked from completing any outstanding payments to Hartwell Arena unless it gets special permission from the US Treasury Department.

“If [Live Nation] still has to pay money for the use of the venue that could be a problem,” Anthony Woolich, a partner at London law firm Holman Fenwick Willan, told the FT.

It depends on whether the US considers transactions arranged, but not yet fulfilled, before the sanctions took effect to be legal or not. 

And who owns the stadium? A company called Arena Events OY, which is controlled by Gennady Timchenko and brothers Arkady Rotenberg and Boris Rotenberg, who all have ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Live Nation said: "We are currently reviewing our portfolio and we will work to ensure the US sanctions against the identified Russians are upheld."

So fans, don't throw away your tickets just yet. 

More from GlobalPost: Miley Cyrus and the VMA twerk seen round the world (VIDEO)

Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.