Finland is pushing the European Union to reduce travel by Russian nationals into the bloc to an absolute minimum, arguing that border security and the threat of hybrid operations now outweigh the case for routine tourism. The Finnish position, aired again this autumn in Brussels and in Helsinki, would build on a land border that has been closed since 2023 and on tightened Schengen visa screening adopted at EU level.
Helsinki’s argument is consistent and narrow: a country waging a full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine, and accused of instrumentalising migrants and flying drones near EU and NATO infrastructure, should not enjoy near-normal leisure access to the European Union. Finnish officials have repeatedly described the current patchwork of national rules as a loophole, where visas issued or honoured in one member state can be used to move freely across the Schengen area.
What Finland is asking for
The Finnish push, as set out by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government, centres on several linked demands rather than a single legal instrument:
- An EU-wide halt to tourist visas for Russian citizens, replacing the current situation in which issuance policy varies sharply between member states.
- Common, restrictive criteria for the exceptions that would remain, typically humanitarian cases, close family members of EU residents, journalists, human rights defenders and people fleeing political persecution.
- Tighter rules on multiple-entry visas, so that long-validity permits issued before the war cannot be used indefinitely.
- Enforcement consistency, including shared practice on refusing entry at external borders even to holders of valid Schengen visas.
Finland’s own record is the strictest in the bloc. Finnish authorities shut all road crossings on the roughly 1,340-kilometre eastern border in December 2023 after a sharp rise in undocumented arrivals that Helsinki said was organised by Russian authorities, and the closure has been extended repeatedly since. Finland has also effectively stopped issuing tourist visas at its missions in Russia, limiting appointments to a small set of categories.
Where EU policy already stands
Travel from Russia to the EU is already far from normal. The EU suspended its visa facilitation agreement with Moscow in September 2022, which raised fees, lengthened processing times and removed simplified documentation for Russian applicants. Direct flights between Russia and the EU remain barred under aviation sanctions, and Russian-registered cars and several categories of personal goods have been restricted at external borders.
The European Commission has also moved on multiple-entry visas, publishing stricter guidance for member states that pushes consulates toward single-entry, short-validity permits for Russian applicants and tighter case-by-case risk assessment. Poland, the Baltic states, the Czech Republic and the Nordic countries have gone further with national bans or near-bans.
Even so, issuance has not stopped. Several southern and central European states continue to grant Schengen visas to Russian citizens in significant numbers, a gap that Finland and like-minded governments want closed. Visa policy is an area where the Council generally proceeds by consensus or by qualified majority on specific legal acts, and a formal bloc-wide tourist ban would require political agreement that does not yet exist.
The security backdrop
Finland’s case leans heavily on events over the past two years along NATO’s eastern flank. Drone sightings have disrupted airports and military sites in several member states; Poland has investigated the contents of downed drones, including reports of Polish SIM cards found inside Russian drones. Allied forces have also been repositioned northward, including a Swedish deployment of fighter jets and warships to Finland as part of joint air and maritime defence.
Finland joined NATO in April 2023, turning its eastern frontier into the alliance’s longest land border with Russia. Orpo has argued since 2024 that leisure travel from Russia is incompatible with that security reality, a position set out in his repeated calls for the EU to halt Russian tourist visas. Estonia has pressed a parallel, broader line, with Prime Minister Kristen Michal’s government urging allies to support Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries as a way to degrade the revenue funding the invasion.
The counter-arguments
Opposition to a blanket ban comes from two directions. Some member states warn that collective punishment of ordinary Russians is legally fraught under the Schengen Borders Code and the EU Visa Code, both of which require individual assessment of applications and entry decisions. Human rights organisations, including groups working with Russian dissidents, argue that closing legal routes traps opposition figures, independent journalists and draft evaders inside Russia and hands the Kremlin a propaganda point.
Economic objections are more muted than in 2022 but have not disappeared, particularly in tourism-dependent regions and in Finnish border towns such as Lappeenranta and Imatra that once drew substantial Russian retail traffic.
What to watch next
The practical question is whether Finland can convert a coalition of northern and eastern member states into a formal Council position. Three indicators matter:
- Whether the Commission proposes a dedicated legal act rather than further non-binding guidance on visa issuance.
- Whether southern member states with large consular operations in Russia accept harmonised refusal criteria.
- Whether Finland’s land border closure is extended again, which would signal that Helsinki sees no change in Russian conduct at the frontier.
Russia’s foreign ministry has consistently condemned European visa restrictions as discriminatory and has threatened reciprocal measures, though Moscow has already curtailed most routine travel ties. For now, Finland’s proposal remains a political campaign rather than EU law, and the bloc’s internal divide over how far to restrict ordinary Russians is the main obstacle to it becoming one.
