Since the lifting of Covid-related restrictions on the Russian side, more and more Russian citizens with tourist visas are crossing the border to Finland again. There, this arouses increasing resentment. But because it is about visas for the Schengen area, Helsinki has only limited options for action.
Signs mark the border with Russia at the village of Värtsilä in Finland, May 4, 2022.
Direct air and rail links from Russia to the EU have been unavailable for months, and of the EU countries bordering Russia, Finland is currently the only one still issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens. Russian summer tourism in the EU, one thinks, should therefore actually be put on hold. But now it is being noticed in Finland in particular that the number of arrivals from Russia has recently been increasing again.