Russian tourists' luxury cars fill up Helsinki airport

Porsches, Bentleys and other luxury cars with Russian licence plates are filling up the parking garage at Helsinki's airport as Finland becomes an important transit country for Russian tourists flying to Europe. The European Union shut its airspace to Russian planes after Moscow invaded Ukraine, forcing anyone who wants to travel to Europe to drive across the border or take a circuitous route using non-Western airlines. Since Russia's Covid-19 restrictions expired in July, there has been a boom in Russian travellers and a rising backlash in Europe against allowing in Russian tourists while the war continues. A quick stroll through the carpark at the Helsinki airport revealed dozens if not hundreds of high-end cars with Russian licence plates, including a new Mercedes-Benz S-class sedan and Porsche 911 Turbo S. "It boggles me," Finnish traveller Jussi Hirvonen said after leaving the garage. "I wish they weren't here before Ukraine's situation is solved." Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told AFP that the Nordic nation has become a "transit country" for Russian tourists. "Helsinki airport is seeing a lot of Russian tourism at the moment." Finland said last week it would limit Russian tourist visas to 10 percent of current volumes as of September 1 due to rising discontent over Russian tourism amid the war in Ukraine. But Russians continue to enter Finland with visas issued by other EU countries in the Schengen borderless travel area for their journeys. "They come here on Schengen visas issued by various different countries and then continue further via Helsinki airport," Haavisto said. According to a survey conducted by the Finnish border guard in August, around two-thirds of Russians crossing Finland's eastern border do so with a Schengen visa issued by a country other than Finland.<br/>