A Russian citizen was deported from Finland and the entire Schengen area. He will now be banned from entering 26 European countries over the next four years.
According to the Finnish media, the Russian tried to return to Russia on a French multiple entry visa. Everything would be fine, but it was this visa that aroused suspicion when passing through border control. It turned out that the French border guards had already canceled it earlier.
During a further check, the authorities found 12 fake stamps in the Russian foreign passport, after which the Russian was charged with forging documents.
Sources say that a Russian citizen exceeded the period of stay in the European Union by 69 days, while the Schengen visa allowed him, as a non-EU citizen, to stay in the bloc of 26 countries for no more than 90 days within six months. In this case, it was possible to cross the borders an unlimited number of times.
There are many disputes and conflicting statements about crossing the Russian-Finnish border, as Russian citizens are carefully checked to see if they have the euro and whether the currency is taken out for personal needs. In some cases, it may be confiscated, while in others it is taken “for safekeeping”.
The incident followed new restrictions that came into effect against Russians in September.
Several European countries, including Denmark, Poland, the Czech Republic, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, have already introduced visa restrictions for Russian citizens.
However, not all European countries are unanimous on this issue, since Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Germany eventually refused to restrict the issuance of visas to Russians.