Parking at Helsinki’s airport has dozens of cars with Russian licence plates as tourists are using Finland as a transit country between Russia and the European Union.
Since Russia’s COVID-19 restrictions on travel eased in July, there has been an increase in the number of Russian tourists attempting to enter the EU.
The bloc has shut its airspace to Russian planes, so, as a workaround, tourists are entering Finland by car and travelling internally within the Schengen zone.
“Finland is the first Schengen country for many,” said Pekka Haavisto, Finland’s foreign affairs minister.
“They come here on Schengen visas issued by various different countries and then continue further via Helsinki airport… There is now a clear boom in both this tourism and in applications for new visas.”
In response, the country has announced that it will restrict the number of visas for Russian tourists to 10% of its current number by September 1.
However, according to the Finnish border guard, around two-thirds of Russians travelling through the country have visas issued by another Schengen-zone nation.
(Source Euronews)
