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The four major parties in Finland want to stop issuing tourist visas for Russians, Finnish media reports. The government should investigate the issue as soon as possible, believes Family and Welfare Minister Aki Lindén, who acts as a substitute for Prime Minister Sanna Marin.
– It should be investigated what the legal process looks like, says Aki Lindén (SDP) to Helsingin Sanomat and continues:
– My personal attitude is, the faster the better.
The Finnish border policy has been criticized since the border with Russia was reopened on July 15 after the corona pandemic. This at the same time as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are currently not allowing Russian tourists in due to the war in Ukraine.
Critics have argued that the Finnish border policy takes the edge off the EU’s travel sanctions against Russia, by making it possible for Russians to pass through Finland to other countries in Europe.
– Is it right that Russians, on the one hand, pleasure tourists in Finland and via Finland get anywhere in the EU, and on the other hand, the future EU country kills citizens of Ukraine in Russia? says Jukka Kopra, deputy party leader of the Samlingspartiet, to the newspaper.
“Russia’s brutal war continues daily, and in this situation normal relations are hardly possible,” writes Antti Lindtman, leader of the parliamentary group for the Social Democrats.
True Finns and the Center also believe that Russians should not be granted tourist visas to Finland, reports EPN.
The Greens’ parliamentary group has not yet taken a position on the matter.
Last week, Ukraine’s ambassador to Finland, Olga Dibrova, said she believes it is wrong for Russians to travel to Finland on tourist visas to shop, while Russia is waging war elsewhere.