Life has returned to the Finnish border with Russia.

The border is 1,300 kilometers long and in the far south-east of Finland lies the small town of Lappeenranta, a paradise for friends of the forest and water – and for Russian tourists on a shopping spree.

For years, many shops in the city had lived well from and with the Russian visitors, until finally the border traffic for tourists from Russia collapsed due to the Corona crisis.

But since the countries lifted the corona restrictions in July, they have been coming back to the border crossings, which are only a few minutes' drive away, and are shopping.

Despite the war in Ukraine.

Henrik Kafsack

Business correspondent in Brussels.

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Eckhart Lohse

Head of the parliamentary editorial office in Berlin.

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Matthias Wysuwa

Political correspondent for northern Germany and Scandinavia based in Hamburg.

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Border crossings have increased, but the number of tourists is far from the pre-Corona period, says Mayor Kimmo Jarva.

It used to be up to 30,000 Russians a day who came to Finland via the border posts in the south-east.

There are currently a few thousand, the Finnish border guard writes in response to the FAZ request that there were almost 26,000 in the region last week.

They would mainly buy food that is subject to sanctions in Russia.

But, according to the border guard, others would also drive to the airport in Helsinki and fly to other countries in the Schengen area.

Your tourist visa makes it possible.

In Finland this is viewed with great skepticism.

Not only here are the demands getting louder and louder these days that things can't just go on like this with Russian tourists in Europe.

“Visiting Europe is a privilege”

After Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the EU states decided on several sanctions packages against Russia.

Among other things, they target individuals from the Russian elite, whether business or politics, with travel bans.

Russian tourists, on the other hand, are still allowed to travel to and through Europe - albeit much more difficult due to the discontinued flight connections to the EU.

In Finland, however, with its long border with Russia, the situation is different.

The Finnish Prime Minister now wants to change that: "It is not right that Russians can lead a normal life, travel in Europe and be tourists while Russia is waging an aggressive, brutal war of aggression in Europe," she told Finnish broadcaster Yle.

The same is true in the Baltic States.

Clear criticism has already been heard from the Latvian government, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has also spoken out in favor of a general visa ban.

"We must stop issuing tourist visas to Russians," she tweeted.

"Visiting Europe is a privilege, not a human right." When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj spoke out in favor of an international travel ban for Russians in an interview with the "Washington Post" on Monday, Moscow immediately reacted with outrage.

Unlike Finland, the Baltic States and Poland have already largely stopped issuing tourist visas.

EU law does not even allow for a general freeze on procurement.

The border code, which regulates the rules for issuing permits for travel to the Schengen area, allows at most a refusal after an individual examination.

Even then, a country cannot act arbitrarily.

Article 32 of the Visa Code specifically lists the reasons for a refusal, for example if an applicant poses a risk to the public.

In addition, applicants must be given the opportunity to appeal the decision.

Without a new – unanimous – decision by the EU, these states are at best in a legal gray area.

However, the debate on this at European level is only in its infancy.

Discussions have so far only been on a technical level, they say.

In most other countries, however, the demands of the Baltic States and Finland are meeting with some great reluctance anyway.

According to diplomatic circles, apart from the Czech Republic, nobody else has campaigned for this so far - and after taking over the EU Council Presidency at the beginning of July, the country must play a more mediating role.