√Russian-owned luxury cars flood Finland to avoid European flight bans

Wealthy travellers are parking hundreds of top-end cars at Helsinki Airport as they avoid bans on flights out of Russia.

Hundreds of luxury cars registered in Russia are filling parking spaces at Helsinki Airport as wealthy travellers use Finland to dodge European travel bans.

Flight sanctions imposed by the European Union over the invasion of Ukraine have forced cashed-up Russians to find another way to leave their country for holidays or business – and Finland is the closest solution.

They can drive across the Russia-Finland border – often using a travel visa from another European country – and then start a trip from the international airport in Helsinki, the Finnish capital.

The situation at Helsinki Airport has developed rapidly since July, when COVID-19 restrictions were lifted inside Russia.

Now Finland has become a “transit country” for Russian tourists, according to the Finnish foreign minister, Pekka Haavisto.

“Helsinki airport is seeing a lot of Russian tourism at the moment,” he told Agence France-Presse in a story reported by The Moscow Times.

Finland is about to limit Russian tourist visas to one-tenth of current levels as a result of rising discontent over Russian tourism, but that will not stop Russians entering with travel visas issued by other European Union countries.

“Hungary, Spain, Italy, Austria, Greece and Spain normally issue visas to Russians, and are generally among the top issuing countries each year,” border guard official, Mert Sasioglu, told AFP.

Finland will raise the issue of Russian transit travellers next week at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in the Czech Republic.

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