Aleksi Pursiainen

Institution: University of Helsinki

Period of stay: 7 - 25 July 2025

Contact: aleksi.pursiainen@helsinki.fi

Profile: 

Aleksi Pursiainen is a leading Finnish expert specializing in international sanctions and export controls. His legal textbook Kansainväliset pakotteet ja vientivalvonta (“International Sanctions and Export Controls”) (Alma Insights, 2nd ed., 2025) is the only comprehensive Finnish work on the subject, widely relied on in Finland by practitioners and academics alike.

Aleksi is currently pursuing a doctorate in international law at the University of Helsinki, exploring the evolving nature of extraterritoriality in economic sanctions, with particular focus on U.S. influence on EU sanctions law and policy since 2022.

In addition to his academic work, Aleksi is the founder and CEO of Solid Plan Consulting Ltd, Finland’s leading consultancy on sanctions and export controls. He previously served as Head of Trade Compliance at Nokia and as Sanctions Team Leader at the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

In 2009–2010, Aleksi led a research team on customary international humanitarian law for the Red Cross as Senior Research Fellow at the LCIL and a Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge.

Research Area:

Economic Sanctions

Research Title:

Americanization of EU Sanctions in 2022—2025: The Extraterritoriality Dilemma

Research Outline:

My research focuses on the transformation of European Union sanctions policy in the context of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with particular attention to the influence of U.S. extraterritorial practices. Building on an analysis of how U.S. sanctions and export control regulations extend beyond national borders and are enforced against non-U.S. actors, I aim to demonstrate how the EU—despite its formal opposition to extraterritoriality—has increasingly mirrored aspects of the U.S. approach in recent sanctions regulations. By combining legal analysis with policy evaluation, my research seeks to clarify the shifting boundaries of jurisdiction in international trade regulation and assess the implications of these changes for EU sanctions law, policy, and enforcement.

Publications:

Books

Pursiainen, Aleksi: Kansainväliset pakotteet ja vientivalvonta (“International Sanctions and Export Controls”), Alma Talent, 1st ed. 2021; 2nd ed. forthcoming 2025

Karjalainen, Katja; Tornberg, Iina; Pursiainen, Aleksi (eds.): International Actors and the Formation of Laws, Springer Cham, 2022.
Niemelä, Sami; Kangasharju, Aki; Toikka, Heikki;
Pursiainen, Aleksi; Malminen, Jukka: Kasvua kansainvälisestä kaupasta (“Growth from International Trade”), Alma Insights, 2025.

Articles and Book Chapters

Pursiainen, Aleksi: “European Union Sanctions and Russia,” Defensor Legis, Vol. 1, 5/2022.

Pursiainen, Aleksi: “The FATF and Evolution of Counterterrorism Asset Freeze Laws in the Nordic Countries: We Fought the Soft Law and the Soft Law Won,” in International Actors and the Formation of Laws, Springer Cham, 2022, pp. 135–172.

Pursiainen, Aleksi: EU Targeted Sanctions and Fundamental Rights, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, online paper, 2017

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