The Finnish authorities mentioned on Thursday it will considerably restrict passenger visitors alongside Finland’s border with Russia, banning Russian nationals touring with vacationer visas efficient from Friday.
“The decision in principle is aimed at completely stopping Russian tourism into Finland and related transit through Finland,” Foreign Minister Pekka Havisto mentioned throughout a information convention.
The authorities justified its resolution, saying that the frequent inflow of Russian vacationers to Finland was jeopardizing the nation’s worldwide relations.
It mentioned it had mentioned the difficulty with Ukraine’s management, amongst others, earlier than the choice.
Havisto cited safety issues associated to Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, an “illegal” referendum held by Russia and the current leaking incidents in Nord Stream pipelines, the choice was made.
Russian residents can nonetheless enter Finland, which shares a 1,340-km land border with Russia, for household causes, examine or work functions. In addition, Russian political dissidents might want to enter the nation for humanitarian functions.
From 1 September, Finland diminished the variety of visas – together with these for tourism functions – issued to Russian residents to one-tenth of the conventional quantity, a transfer seen as a present of solidarity with Ukraine.
Havisto beforehand mentioned he was notably involved a few sort of Russian “tourist route” via Helsinki airport, which was utilized by hundreds of Russians previous to Moscow’s February 24 assault on Ukraine.
So far, Russians have been crossing into Finland earlier than flying to different European nations as a means of bypassing flight restrictions imposed after the invasion.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
