From 30 September onward Finland will deny entry to the country for Russian citizens who have tourist visas. This means European Union’s land borders become completely closed to Russian citizens who want to flee the ongoing partial mobilisation in Russia, as reported by Lithuanian public media LRT.
With this decision Finland joins Baltic States and Poland, which have already restricted border crossing for Russian citizens who have Schengen visas.
As the Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto told the media, the objective of this decision is completely restricting Russian tourism and related transit through Finland.
The Finnish government plans for this decision to significantly reduce traffic intensity on the Finnish-Russian border.
Media report that nearly 17 000 Russian citizens had crossed the Finnish border last weekend.
The Finnish government explained this decision with security risks coming from the Russian-Ukrainian war, as well as the «referendums» organised in occupied Ukrainian territories and the recent sabotage with Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines.
The full article in English is available here: https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1790541/finland-joins-baltics-poland-in-shutting-border-to-russian-tourists