The authorities of Finland, which is popular among Russian tourists, made a new statement once again, according to which the country intends to further limit the entry of Russian tourists and “transit workers” into its territory because it registers a large number of those who arrive. For this purpose, it is proposed to ban the entry of tourists with a Schengen visa issued both by the Finnish authorities and by the authorities of other states.
Even last week, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Pekka Haavisto, said that all Russians who have a valid tourist visa will be banned from entering Finland to use it as a transit zone with further access to Europe. According to the information of the national public broadcasting company of Finland Yle, the Finnish authorities decided to take such measures, because believed that the country’s reputation suffered because of the open borders for Russians. We will remind you, in just 2 days after the entry ban introduced by the Baltic countries, approximately 6,500 citizens of the Russian Federation entered Finland.
In a video conference from New York, Haavisto said that all border crossings for tourist purposes through the Finnish land border will be prohibited. However, it was noted that the country will remain open to some categories of travelers. According to the new policy, which is currently under preparation, the restrictions will also apply to those who hold Schengen visas issued by other countries, and not only to those who have a visa issued by the Finnish authorities.
In addition, the minister noted that Finland is canceling multiple-entry visas issued to citizens of the Russian Federation. Earlier, on September 20, Finland already appealed to the Commission of the European Union with a request to issue a joint recommendation for all countries of the Schengen Agreement to invalidate visas issued to Russians and introduce an entry ban for them.
“Finland requests a recommendation according to which countries of the Schengen Agreement, preventing the entry of Russian citizens at their border, at the same time cancel the person’s visa, or deny the person entry by the usual Schengen practice,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Not only the government, but the Finns themselves support the anti-Russian line of behavior. Thus, a recent survey showed that about 85% of the surveyed citizens of the country spoke in favor of suspending the validity of tourist visas for Russians and issuing a new Schengen, and another 80% of them said that Finland should not allow entry of Russian tourists who already have a visa issued by the authorities of Finland or any other European country. On the other hand, 4% of respondents said that the country should not stop cutting off tourist connections with the Russian Federation and spoke against the ban on issuing visas to Russians.