Finland intends to limit transit tourism from Russia to Europe

Finland intends to impose restrictions on transit tourism from Russia to Europe on Schengen visas issued by Finnish missions, Jussi Tanner, head of the consular service of the Finnish Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with Yle television.

“We will respond if people really start to travel to other countries on Schengen visas issued by Finland,” Tanner said. According to him, the agency takes into account that “some Russian travelers use Finland only as a transit country on their way to the Mediterranean resorts.”

As a response, the diplomat called “the refusal to provide new visas to applicants who used documents previously issued by Finland exclusively for transit to a third country.” In addition, Tanner stressed that the number of tourist visas is already being reduced by limiting the possibility of making an appointment at the diplomatic missions of the republic in Russia.

At the end of July, the Finnish Foreign Ministry reported that they were considering six possible options for limiting the flow of tourists from Russia, among which were the complete cessation of the issuance of visas, as well as the closure of borders for passenger traffic. The head of the consular service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country, Jussi Tanner, noted that radical measures contradict the rules of the Schengen area and the laws of the European Union, the authorities, according to him, are interested in coordinating their policy on this issue with the EU.

Earlier, Finnish Prime Minister Tytti Tuppurainen, Minister for EU Affairs and Public Property, said that Helsinki does not yet plan to stop issuing tourist visas to Russians, but the EU has frozen part of the visa facilitation agreement between the EU and Russia. Some Finnish deputies demand that Russians stop issuing visas due to a special military operation in Ukraine, as the Baltic countries did.

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