On November 21, Russian designer, entrepreneur, and blogger Artemy Lebedev expressed opposition to the partial opening of borders with Finland, stating that fully lifting the restrictions is the only viable option. “I don’t think we should agree to that. The border should be fully opened <...>. Only then should we agree to open the borders,” he said in a post on his VKontakte page.
Lebedev emphasized that Finnish authorities should also fully issue visas to Russians, noting that the closure of the border with the Russian Federation was not initially beneficial for Helsinki.
Finland prepares rallies in support of opening borders with Russia
What the country loses from the closure of the CPP in 2023
On November 13, the Finnish border security unit head Jussi Napola stated that Finland is ready to resume traffic on the border with Russia if it opens, but not at all checkpoints. According to him, before the border was closed, traffic was only 18%, and currently, the flow may be even lower due to sanctions and visa restrictions.
