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Despite Finland closing its borders and banning the entry of citizens of Russia, the number of Russian shoppers going to Finland has not decreased as they are entering the country via Norway.
Since Norway is part of the Schengen Area, just like Finland, everyone can enter the territory of Finland via Norway without having to undergo order controls, and this makes the entry of Russian shoppers entirely legal, leaving the authorities of the country unable to take any measures, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Yle News explains that there are carloads of citizens of Russia arriving each day to do shopping in Näätämö on the border between Finland and Norway.
Since those going to shop in Näätämö reach Finland via the Storskog border points, the Finnish authorities do not check their passports or require them to present a visa as the two countries – Norway and Finland – do not have internal border checks.
Commenting on the high number of Russian shoppers entering Finland via Norway, customs head of the Tornio office, Kari Hannu, said for Yle that they are unable to stop the traffic at certain border points due to the Schengen area rules.
“They arrive in Norway from Russia with visas. Norway has allowed them to come if they have valid visas. They come to the Schengen area, where they also have the chance to visit Finland,” Hannu told Yle.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland also commented on the matter and said that stores in the country should not sell products to Russians if it is clear that they will export a product subject to sanctions to Russia.
While some market owners in Näätämö have said that they sell products to Russian shoppers, some others have said that they have stopped offering tax refunds.
One of the market owners said that they stopped tax-free sales completely in the spring of last year. another one said that they do not offer products that are part of the sanctions list to Russian shoppers.
As for the items that Russian shoppers are able to purchase in Finland, Yle explained that they could buy whatever they want as long as they do not request a tax refund, as in those cases, the shop is unable to inspect passports.
“Our task is, of course, to oversee products’ export from Finland. If the products go to Russia via Norway, it is the responsibility of Norwegian Customs to enforce the rules. We can’t really do anything about this,” Hannu stressed.
Finland officially closed its borders to Russians on September 29, 2022. Since then, nationals of Russia have been banned from entering Finland for tourism purposes.
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