Border traffic had calmed down somewhat early on Monday but remained busier than in previous weeks, Captain Taneli Repo of the Southeast Finland Border Authority told Reuters.
“Queues continue to be a bit longer than they usually have been since the pandemic,” he said.
Wednesday’s announcement of Russia’s first public mobilization since World War II in support of its faltering war in Ukraine sparked a border street, the arrest of protesters and public unease.
Young Russian men who spoke to Reuters after crossing the Finnish border last week via the Vaalimaa border crossing, about three hours by car from Russia’s second largest city, St Petersburg, said they left for fear of being arrested in the war.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine “a special military operation”.
The Finnish government, which fears becoming a major transit nation, said on Friday it would bar all Russians from entering its territory on tourist visas in the coming days, although exceptions may still apply for humanitarian reasons.