Russia has ordered the temporary closure of several railway border crossing points with Finland, Estonia and Latvia, according to Russian state news agency Tass, in a move that further limits traffic across the country’s western borders.

The measure took effect on 1 July and covers the movement of people, vehicles, goods and freight through the affected crossings.

According to Tass, Russia has suspended operations at the Värtsilä, Lyttä and Svetogorsk border crossings on its side of the Finnish border.

Their Finnish counterparts are Niirala, Vartius and Imatra.

The order also includes the railway crossings in St Petersburg and Vyborg that were used by Allegro passenger trains before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Russian authorities have also ordered the closure of the Petseri railway crossing on the Estonian border and the Pytalovo crossing on the Latvian border, Tass reported.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has been instructed to notify Finland, Estonia and Latvia of the decision.

Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs said it had not received any official notification from Russia.

The ministry told both Helsingin Sanomat and public broadcaster Yle that its information about the closures was based solely on media reports.

The practical impact on traffic between Finland and Russia is expected to be limited.

Finland has kept all road border crossing points on its eastern frontier closed since December 2023 after accusing Russia of facilitating the arrival of asylum seekers at the border in what Finnish authorities described as instrumentalised migration posing a serious threat to national security and public order.

The Finnish government most recently extended the border closure in June.

Although passenger traffic has been suspended for more than two years, some rail freight has continued between the two countries.

Russia’s latest order does not include the Buslovskaya crossing, opposite Finland’s Vainikkala border station, which remains the main rail freight route between the two countries.

According to Finland’s Transport and Communications Agency Traficom, freight traffic through Vainikkala has continued since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, although volumes have fallen to about one quarter of pre-pandemic levels.

The route has continued to handle imports from Russia, including nickel ore and fertilisers.

HT