Helsinki-Vantaa Airport is full of Russian luxury vehicles as tourists circumvent the no-fly zone
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Union closed its airspace to Russian aircraft. Since then, however, Russians have gotten around it by first driving to Finland, parking at Helsinki-Vantaa airport and flying from there. That’s why the Helsinki-Vantaa airport parking garage is currently full of top-class cars – Porsche 911s, Range Rovers and Mercedes G-Wagons – with Russian license plates.
The number of Russian passengers flying from Finland increased after Russia lifted its Covid travel restrictions on July 15 and AFPIn July alone, there were reportedly 230,000 border crossings. “Helsinki Airport currently has a lot of Russian tourism.” Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said AFP.
How are Russians allowed to drive to Finland if they are not allowed to fly to Europe? They use the so-called a Schengen visa, which allows all airlines to travel freely in most European Union countries. Schengen visa holders can stay in other countries is limited (90 days in 180 days), but it allows its holders to use international airports.
Some Finnish citizens are frustrated by the fact that Russian travelers have been granted Schengen visas by countries other than Finland, such as Italy, Hungary, Spain and Greece. According to the Schengen rules, Finland cannot close its borders to any particular nationality. However, Finland wants to prevent the use of the Schengen visa for this very reason. “Since Finland and the Baltic countries are planning to limit these visas, it would be good if all EU countries made similar decisions,” Haavisto said.
The meeting of the European Union’s foreign ministers is on August 30, and Finland wants to raise the issue with other EU foreign ministers. The European Union admits that there is a problem with these visas for Russian travelers to cross the Finnish border, and is trying to create some kind of policy to help. However, other EU countries understand that the majority of Russians do not travel to Finland or anywhere else with bad intentions. In fact, many try to escape.
“This is not the Russian people’s war, it is Putin’s war,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. He said putting a blanket cap on all Russian Schengen visas would stop “all the people who are fleeing Russia because they disagree with the Russian regime.”
This is a tricky diplomatic situation. Finland is not satisfied with the Russians finding a loophole in the travel ban by crossing and using its airports for international travel. But the European Union admits it is necessary for many Russians to escape Putin’s rule. All EU foreign ministers are trying to find a solution to this within a couple of days, but until then they expect to see several Russian luxury cars parked at Helsinki Airport.