The Finnish government has extended restrictions for Russian citizens indefinitely. The ban, as before, applies to non-essential travel, primarily for tourism purposes, transit through Finland to other Schengen countries, as well as the issuance of visas, except on special grounds.

The Spanish authorities continue to be the leader in issuing Schengen visas in Russia, as recently published statistics show. In 2022, a quarter of all documents issued to Russian were Spanish: 154 450 visas out of 603 955.

Travel companies can no longer book Finnish Schengen visa application slots for customers. From September 1, travel companies can interact with Finnish Visa Application Center on the same grounds as individual applicants.

The Finnish government has taken an official decision to limit the acceptance of visa applications in Russia. The restriction comes into force at the beginning of September.

The tour operator Pac Group has published package tours to Finland for the New Year on its website. As part of guaranteed group arrivals for the New Year and winter holidays from December 28 to January 4, tourists can go to the ski resorts of Levi and Vuokatti, to Imatra or visit the Finnish Santa Claus in Rovaniemi.

International bus carriers Lux Express and Ecolines note the boom in demand for bus services from St. Petersburg to Tallinn (Estonia) and Helsinki (Finland) amid the lifting of coronavirus restrictions.

The Association of Tour Operators of Russia has recorded a very high demand for tourist visas to Finland.

Finnish rail operator VR plans to increase the number of Allegro trains between Helsinki and St. Petersburg due to high demand.

Passenger rail service with Finland, suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, will be resumed from December 12. The train will run on the route St. Petersburg - Helsinki.

Despite the upcoming resumption of railway communication between Russia and Finland, restrictions on the issuance of tourist visas to Russians remain in force. There is no information about the change yet.

Finnair will resume flights between Finland and Russia from April 2. Flights to the Russian Federation will be operated twice a week.

Restarting flights between Russia and Finland since the end of January does not mean automatically the opening of the border for Russian tourists or restarting the visa issuance process.

Russia will resume flights to Vietnam, India, Finland and Qatar on January 27, 2021, with several flights per week.

The Russian airline Aeroflot will resume flights between Moscow (Sheremetyevo International Airport) and Helsinki from December, 24.

Finland will maintain the current restrictions on the entry of foreigners. Despite the closed borders and the suspension of the mass issuance of tourist visas in Russia, the service fee for issuing the Finnish Schengen has increased.

Routes connecting St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region with four Finnish cities will open in 2021. They will link Russia with the Finnish Savonlinna, Imatra, Lappeenranta and Mikkeli.

The Finnish government announced the extension of the regime of restrictions on entry into the country, including from Russia, until September 8.

Finland is closed for Russians for another month The Finnish authorities have decided to close the border with Russia until August 25. The reason is the situation with COVID-19.

Finnish visa centers in Vyborg, Veliky Novgorod and Vologda have been working on issuing passports with approved visas since July, 6. But, visa applications are still on hold.

Finnair airline canceled the sale of tickets for flights to Moscow in August. Among the Russian destinations, only flights to St. Petersburg remained in the schedule of the national carrier of Finland.

The Consulate General of Finland in St. Petersburg resumed accepting documents for certain types of visas, but there is no tourist among them.

The Finnish government announced that restrictions due to coronavirus will remain on the border with Russia until at least July 14th.

The Finnish authorities extended the ban on crossing the border with Russia until June 14.

The Finnish representative offices in Russia issued a total 790 000 Schengen visas last year. The increase in the number of issued visas is primarily connected with stable ruble and the expansion of tourism services offered by Finland.

According to the Border Service, in 2019, Russian citizens made 48 072 285 trips in 176 foreign countries and territories. This is 7,9% more than in 2018 (44 551 092).