Ukraine War Day #449: Shoppers Inconvenienced By War

Dear Readers:

While waiting for news of the BUC (Big Ukrainian Counteroffensive), we have this less-important story. About the inconveniences suffered by ordinary Finns. This is Russia’s way of paying them back for joining NATO. The reporter is Petr Nikolaev.

Russia and Finland share a border that is 1,340 kilometers long (around 830 miles). Pre-war (and before Finland joined NATO recently) that border was something like the U.S.-Canada border used to be pre-covid. Namely, very porous, with people and cars moving back and forth seamlessly, with very little (if any) paperwork. Finns in particular, armed with little more than a Finnish passport (sometimes a day visa) would drive into Russia for a shopping trip. A shopping trip! What, the curious Westerner might ask, could possibly entice a Finn, a member of a prosperous European country, into a comparatively poor country like Russia? Same thing that enticed them even in Soviet times: Cheap booze. Well, and other stuff as well. Some Finns go to get their cars filled up with cheap Russian gas. Others take it one step further and bring their cars to a Russian automobile repair place to get fixed. Those are the usual things that entice them.

“Your papers, please!”

Then something changed recently. Finns were shocked when they started being turned back at certain crossing points such as Torfyanovka and Brusnichnoe. One Finn, who lived very close to the border and was just innocently minding his own business and intending to go on a shopping spree in Russia, was rudely told he had to pass a Russian language test. He failed the test, and so he was turned away. This is his sad story, as was reported by the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat:

This Finnish guy lives in the area of Kymenlaakso whence, on the morning of 12 May, he was driving to Vyborg, with the intention of filling up his gas tank and maybe also buy a few things in the stores. He had done this many times before, and never had a problem. But this time, for the first time in his life, Russian border guards, after checking his documents, asked him to fill out a form. He needed to fill out his address, his telephone number, and whatever location in Russia he was planning to visit. Also requested was the name of whoever had given him a Russian visa. He named the name of whatever Finnish visa company people use to receive these routine documents. But next he was asked to fill in the name of the “receiving” Russian company, in other words, whoever had allegedly invited him into Russian territory. And he was supposed to write it down in Russian.

Believe it or not, there actually is some company in Moscow which apparently participates in whatever scam this is, with the fake “business visas” for people who just want to go shopping for a day. Problem is, this guy didn’t speak or write a word of Russian, and so he was not able to successfully complete the questionnaire. “I just don’t know Russian,” the guy explained to the Finnish newspaper reporters.

In response, the border guard, who reports to the FSB Border Patrol service of the Leningrad Oblast, returned his passport to him, along with a nullified visa.

Finns enjoy getting around on snow-scooters.

Jukka Lukkari protects the Finnish border.

A similar incident occurred on the borderpost that separates Torfyanovka, Russia from Vaalimaa, Finland. Three Finnish citizens were shocked when their visas were abruptly annulled on the spot, and they had to turn around and go home. They were doubly chafed when they watched the Russians let some Estonian guy through, after the latter told the Russian border guards some lame story about visiting his dentist. They also watched enviously as some people with dual citizenship were just waved through. “We just don’t know why certain people were singled out,” said Jukka Lukkari, Deputy Head of Finnish Border Patrol for Southeast Finland.

The article goes on to say that Russia normally issues two types of visas to Finnish citizens: tourist visas; and “business” visas; but the latter are not technically supposed to be for just shopping trips; although they have traditionally been abused for that purpose. “A trip to a store is not a business trip,” the Finnish newspaper explains, although it adds that the Russians used to “look through their fingers” at this common practice.

Russian Shoppers Also Inconvenienced

The border between Russia and Norway is way up there at the Arctic Circle, and shown in red.

Russo-Finnish relations are at an all-time low right now. Finland joined in the European sanctions after the start of the Special Military Operations. In March of 2022 the Finnish side cancelled a joint project called “Allegro” which envisioned fast-train service between St. Petersburg – Helsinki. This past August it was learned that the Finnish state railroad operator VR Group wrote off all the wagons and spare parts that had been previously purchased for the project. This capital write-off cost them 45.4 million Euros. A pity, because the train would have carried people from one city to the other in just a couple of hours. The Arbitration Court in Moscow ruled in favor of a suit brought by the Russian Railroad Company, in the amount of 10.1 million rubles. In response to the sanctions, the Russian side also stopped shipping goods into Finland.

As relations between the two countries deteriorated, Russian shoppers have also experienced disappointments and had to come up with creative workarounds. Starting this past September, Russians may no longer acquire tourist visas to go to Finland. Those who are really determined to get into Finnish stores and boutiques have found a roundabout and very long, but completely legal, route: They cross the Russian-Norwegian border at the Arctic Circle, using a Schengen visa. [yalensis: Man! Those must be some serious shopaholics!]

Taking advantage of the fact that nice sweet Norway has not issued draconian limitations on Russian tourists.

Once in Norway, take a left turn, and you’re in Finland. And into those glorious shops, wherever they are. Those must be some shops. Once sated with consumer goods, the shoppers can take the short route back into Russia. By just crossing the Finnish-Russian border and showing their Russian passports.