UN Information Hall
UPDATED 4:50 PM PT – Thursday, September 29, 2022
Finland is going to ban the entry of Russian tourists. At a press conference, Peka Haavista, the country’s foreign minister, announced that the country would close its borders at midnight on Thursday.
“The purpose of the resolution is to stop Russian tourism to Finland and transit through Finland to other countries of the Schengen zone,” Haavista said. “In the resolution, the government notes that the entry of Russian citizens into Finland for tourist purposes endangers Finland’s international relations.”
Russians can still enter Finland for family reasons, work or study.
The closure will block the last direct land route to the European Union. The route is important for thousands of Russians who are trying to avoid being drafted into the war with Ukraine. This closure was the result of Russia’s “partial” mobilization of 300,000 people. The recent mobilization was the first since World War II.
Over the past weekend, almost 17,000 Russians crossed the border with Finland. This is almost 80% more than the week before. The Russians protested against the mobilization.
The Finnish government said the move would lead to a significant drop in cross-border traffic. The government was wary of seeing it only as a transit country to the passport-free Schengen area of Western Europe.
