Many of the Finnish railway crossings had already seen little or no passenger traffic since direct rail links between Finland and Russia were suspended following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Finland then closed its entire eastern border in December 2023 over what it described as Russian-orchestrated “instrumentalized migration.”
By contrast, the crossings at Pechory on the Estonian border and Pytalovo near Latvia had remained operational until now.
Direct flights between Russia and the EU remain suspended, while land crossings are limited and subject to national restrictions.
The announcement comes as Russia builds out military infrastructure along its frontier with NATO.
A recent joint investigation by Sweden’s SVT and Norway’s NRK found that Russia was building new barracks, ammunition depots and logistics facilities near its borders with Finland, Norway and the Baltic states, with plans to eventually station up to 115,000 troops there once the war in Ukraine eases.