Finland resumes railway communication with St. Petersburg

The Finnish government has decided to open the Vainikkala railway checkpoint, through which all passenger traffic with Russia passes, the Suomi Ministry of the Interior said.

“The government made a decision on this issue on October 14, and it will enter into force on October 18,” the report said. — The rest of the restrictions on entry to the external borders will be extended until November 7. However, entry into Finland is possible from all countries upon presentation of an approved certificate of completion of the full course of vaccination against COVID-19.”

Vainikkala was closed in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Previously, two trains from Russia to Helsinki, the capital of Finland, ran through this point: "Allegro" from St. Petersburg and "Leo Tolstoy" from Moscow. As Fontanka was told in the Finnish railway company VR, in the near future the launch of Allegro will be agreed with Russian Railways. The conditions for movement between the countries will be announced after the approval of the joint plan. “The plan is to start [the Allegro movement] in time for the Christmas season,” said VR spokesman Tatu Tuominen.

The Allegro will be subject to the same rules as other travel between the two countries. Recall that air traffic with Finland was resumed at the end of January 2021, but there are still restrictions on movement. Russia has decided to lift restrictions on air traffic with Finland, as well as with Austria, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates from November 9.

The main obstacle to free border crossing with European countries is still the fact that Russian vaccines are not recognized in the EU. The issue of recognizing Sputnik V in Finland has not yet been resolved, but on Thursday, October 14, Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov told reporters that Russia had raised the question of the possibility of Russians vaccinated with Sputnik V entering Suomi without tests and additional conditions: “We have just begun to cooperate in this direction. This issue has been put on the agenda today. Colleagues from the Russian Ministry of Health have begun to work with Finnish partners, we very much hope that such decisions will be made, since this significantly affects the resumption of tourist flows.”