Luxury cars, Porsches, Bentleys, Mercedes and other prestigious brands with Russian license plates flood the airport parking lot in Helsinki, the Finnish capital, which the Russian invasion of Ukraine has turned into a major transit point for Russian tourists.
At the start of the war, the European Union closed its airspace to Russian planes, forcing Russians who want to travel to Europe to cross the border or take an indirect route by traveling on non-Western airlines.
Since Moscow lifted travel restrictions linked to Covid-19 in July, there has been an increase in the number of Russian travelers and growing discontent in Europe over allowing Russian tourists to enter during the Ukrainian War.
A quick tour of the Helsinki airport parking lot reveals dozens, if not hundreds, of luxury cars with Russian license plates, like a new Mercedes-Benz S-class sedan and a Porsche 911 Turbo S.
Asked by AFP, Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto confirms that Finland has become “a transit country” for Russian tourists.
Due to growing dissatisfaction with Russian tourism amid the Ukrainian War, Finland announced last week that it would limit Russian tourist visas to 10% of current volume from September 1.
But Russians “arrive here with Schengen visas issued by many different countries and continue their journey through Helsinki airport,” explains Haavisto.
Nearly two-thirds travel on a Schengen visa issued by a country such as “Hungary, Spain, Italy, Austria, Greece and Spain, (which) are among the top issuing countries every year,” Mert Sasioglu, spokesman for the Finnish border guards, referring to a survey carried out by their collective in August.
Schengen rules do not allow Finland to close its border to specific nationalities, explains the foreign minister.
This type of sanction can only be decided jointly by the European Union.
“As Finland and the Baltic countries plan to restrict these visas, it would be good for European Union countries to take similar decisions,” adds Haavisto, who will raise the proposal at the next EU foreign ministers meeting on August 30 in the Czech Republic. .
His idea is shared by many Finns at the airport.
Meanwhile, the number of Russian tourists traveling to Finland continues to grow.
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