Monday, September 26, 2022
On Wednesday, Finland said that it’s setting up a national solution to restrict or completely stop tourism from Russia, after the attack on Ukraine.
Foreign Minister of Findland, Pekka Haavisto, told in a press conference that this national solution might comprise new legislation, which very soon would be taken on. As COVID-19 restrictions of Russia expired in July, there has been a major rise in travelers from Russia and a rising anti reaction in Europe against permitting Russian tourists as the war continues.
Finland in September, radically restricted tourist visas for Russians. However, they carry on entering the country by producing visas issued by other EU countries in the Schengen borderless travel area.
Haavisto said that for Schengen visas, Finland does not want to be a transit country, issued by other countries.
On Wednesday, as per a survey unveiled by Finnish daily Ilta-Sanomat, roughly 70% of Finns want the Nordic country not to allow tourist visas to Russians.
Finland has been calling for an EU decision to restrict issuing visas for Russian tourists; however Haavisto observed that it cannot be sure that this decision would happen very quickly.
Estonia and Lithuania, the Baltic states of Latvia, bordering Russia, have by now strengthened their own visa rules leaving Finland as Russia’s last EU neighbor for Schengen visa holders to transit through.
The guards on the Finnish border said that the situation has not changed majorly.
Tags: finland, russian tourists
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