When Petteri Orpo appeared on Yle’s ‘Ykkösaamu’ on Saturday, 10 October, Finland’s prime minister used the interview to press for a European Union halt to tourist visas for Russian citizens. Orpo, who leads the National Coalition Party, said he would put the proposal to an EU leaders’ summit the following week.
Finland stopped issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens in September 2022. Land border crossings between Finland and Russia have remained closed since December 2023.
Orpo wants those national restrictions to become policy across the bloc. He cited the threat of Russian sabotage in Europe as the reason for a wider ban.
“We fear that Russia will try to organize sabotage in Europe. Why then do we let Russians in here as tourists and allow them to move freely?” Orpo said.
The proposal sets Finland’s approach against the broader European practice. In the reference year, European countries issued 800,000 tourist visas to Russians, while Finland issued zero.
Orpo also called a US-Russia agreement on diesel fuel supplies an “awful disappointment”. He said the agreement puts money into Vladimir Putin’s war chest and allows Russia to continue the war against Ukraine.
Europe should act more actively and introduce additional sanctions against Russia, he said.
On other issues, Orpo said Finland did not accept Donald Trump’s measures against the International Criminal Court.
He rejected cuts to the pensions of current pensioners.
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