The number of Russians traveling across the eastern border to Finland has been increasing since Wednesday. The graphic shows the change in the number of Russians crossing the border in recent weeks.
23.9. 20:40
Eastern border over the number of Russians coming to Finland has been increasing since Wednesday. The most popular day for crossing the border is Saturday, but on Thursday of the current week, more Russians crossed the border to Finland than on a usual Saturday.
Foreign minister Pekka Haavisto (green) told on Friday evening that the entry of Russians to Finland will be restricted. Restrictions may come into force soon.
Read more: Minister Haavisto: The transit of Russians can endanger Finland’s international relations, the restrictions will take effect in the next few days
HS asked the Border Guard for the daily numbers of Russian citizens who entered Finland via the eastern border starting on August 20. Figures on Russian citizens who crossed the eastern border from Finland to Russia are also included.
Traffic across the border from Russia to Finland started to pick up immediately after the announcement of the partial opening of traffic, says the head of the International Cooperation Unit of the Border Guard Matti Pitkäniitty.
He estimates that the growth as a whole cannot be explained by Russians fleeing conscription.
“At the latest, the announcement struck the consciousness of every Russian that Russia is at war. There are people who say that enough is enough now,” says Pitkäniitty.
Read more: Shocked Russians are now arriving across the eastern border
Finland since August, more people have come across the border from Russia than have gone to Russia from Finland, Pitkäniitty says.
“Looking at the numbers, you have to understand the Schengen mechanics. Even if a person enters the Schengen area from Finland, he may leave from somewhere else.”
However, the differences in the number of people traveling in different directions were quite small until this week. Now the difference has started to clearly grow.
Pitkäniitty thinks that Russians who have the opportunity to leave the country now want to take a break from Russia and watch how the situation in the country develops.
“They can go from a safe distance to see what the announcement of a partial business launch means and watch the news to see if it’s worth coming back or not.”
CORONA pandemic compared to the previous time, the number of border crossers is still small, although the traffic pressure to other countries has now been directed to the borders of Finland, Pitkäniitty reminds.
“Traffic is 30-40 percent compared to what it was before the pandemic. And then all air connections, train connections and the borders of other countries will work.”
“Even though more than 6,000 border crossers a day is a big number, I expected in February that the number would be bigger.”
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