“We are not disgusting to them”: how Russians are met in Finland

Recall that Finland, which has the longest land border with Russia, responded to the calls of the ex-Soviet Baltic republics to restrict Russians’ access both to their country and to Europe through their territory. But, since a complete ban on the issuance of visas to all Russian citizens without exception “on the basis of a passport” is impossible under Finnish law, Suomi has chosen a method of “slowing down” the processing of visa applications from Russians.

From September 1, the Finns will start issuing 90% fewer visas to holders of Russian passports. Simply put, if earlier a thousand applications were processed a day, now there will be only 100. Moreover, applications for tourist visas will be accepted only once a week.

In the meantime, the so-called “passport sanctions” have not come into force, Russians who already have a Schengen stamp in their passport issued by Finland or any other country of the Schengen agreement are in a hurry to get to the “Finka” through the ground border checkpoints in the Leningrad Region, which is the easiest way, After all, flights from Russia to Finland have been cancelled.

“Ordinary people go to the other side for shopping, often in one day,” says a Russian woman living in the area bordering Finland. – Many on both sides “beyond the cordon” have relatives and friends. Some even go to the doctor, for example, to the other side. It’s stupid to take revenge on people like us! Even Finnish shopkeepers support us, we do all the income for local shops in border towns!

– They wrote on the net that, they say, in Finnish stores in the border zone they stopped accepting cash from Russians. Pay, they say, with cards, but the cards do not work – also a veiled sanction.

– I don’t know, I was on the other side the other day, it’s great they let me through the border crossing, and they accepted cash in stores. Another thing is that everyone knows me, I even have a beautician on the Finnish side. But if they want to apply sanctions, then they should not start with us. Have you seen the parking at the Helsinki airport?! That’s where you have to start.

The European press is actively writing about “hundreds of luxury cars with Russian numbers” left in the parking lot of Helsinki airport, expressing dissatisfaction with the visa “loyalty” of Finns to Russian citizens, the interlocutor says. Like, it’s clear that the owners of these expensive vehicles boarded a plane and went to other European countries via Helsinki – that is, they continue to lead their usual way of life, and the EU cannot prevent them in any way, although it has collectively condemned Russian policy.

“It is clear that those Russians who sail the Mediterranean on private yachts cannot but be related to the Russian elite, which, like everywhere else, includes not only government, but also business,” says the owner of the store on the Finnish side. – If they are limited with visas, I do not mind. But those Russians who have been coming to me for years on a minibus for goods, what’s the point in driving them away ?! It’s not difficult to keep them out, but the bigwigs sailed on yachts and will continue to do so. Everything here is against a ban on ordinary Russian shuttles. Therefore, it’s all nonsense that we do not accept cash from them or somehow show that they are not welcome.

But so far, according to the Russians who crossed the land border with Finland over the past week, nothing much has changed.

“They just ask how much cash you are carrying, they leaf through your passport in more detail,” domestic shuttle traders say. – Border guards are experienced people. If they see that a group of women is traveling for three days, then they don’t find fault, they understand that we are going to them for goods, to spend their hard-earned money on them.

In August, on the eve of the decision to “slow down”, the Finnish border service presented statistics according to which 2/3 of Russian citizens cross the Russian-Finnish border on Schengen visas issued by Hungary, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Austria, Germany and Greece. These countries do not really express a desire to “revise the visa service” for all Russians without exception.

Some of them openly voice their position (Germany, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary), stating that they see no point in banning access to Europe for “innocent” Russians who have nothing to do with politics and power. Most of the others remain silent, stating that they will wait for a common decision of the EU, which should be adopted on August 31 in Prague at a meeting of foreign ministers of all EU countries.

At the forefront of the idea not to let Russians in in any form are only three Baltic countries, but they have already set to work without waiting for a “corporate” European decision: Lithuania and Latvia stopped issuing visas to Russians, Latvia suspended border communications with Russia (through ground border posts) ,

Estonia does not allow Russians with Schengen issued by the Estonian visa services to pass through land borders, and plans to soon not let even those with visas issued by other countries of the Schengen zone (for now, Estonians simply do not quite understand how to arrange this in a legal way). And since, in the absence of air links with Europe, the neighboring Baltic countries served as the main “windows to Europe” for Russians, with the start of such actions about two weeks ago, they slammed shut, and only Norway remained with very inconvenient access to the border in the Murmansk region and Finland, to the boundary of which is elementary to drive up from St. Petersburg.

– You yourself are not disgusted to break into them, if on the other side they don’t even let us into museums, just not on the basis of citizenship ?! – I’m interested in compatriots who plan to have time to Finland before September 1.

– To the Finns – no, – they answer me. – Unlike the Baltic states, they do not say that we are “dangerous” or “disgusting” to them. And, by the way, their realtors have become more active in offering real estate to Russians, with discounts.

This is also confirmed by the Finnish media: in the past six months, Russians have acquired significantly more real estate in Finland than in previous years, including pre-pandemic times.

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