Under pressure from both the Finnish public, which backed the ban, and the right-wing opposition, Finland’s centre-left government said late on Friday that it would prevent Russian tourists from crossing the border in the coming days. “The ambition and purpose is to significantly reduce the number of people coming to Finland from Russia,” President Sauli Niinistö told state broadcaster Yle. Finland’s decision came as the Czech Republic, the current EU presidency, called an emergency meeting of the bloc’s crisis response mechanism. Ambassadors from member states will meet on Monday as part of the EU’s Integrated Political Response – a format designed to coordinate across the bloc during disasters – to discuss the prospect of higher levels of migration from Russia and possible future developments at the war. Officials will be briefed by the EU’s intelligence unit and “invited to exchange views on preparing for possible scenarios in the event of further escalation”, according to an agenda seen by the FT. Finland has come under increasing pressure since it refused to follow the three Baltic states and Poland, the other EU states neighboring Russia, in banning Russian tourists. Helsinki invoked EU law, hoping the bloc would forge a common policy. Pekka Haavisto, the foreign minister, said on Friday night that the ban would apply to visas issued both by Finland and other European countries.

The parking garage at Helsinki airport has been filled in recent weeks with luxury Russian cars as tourists crossed the border and then flew to other destinations as direct flights to the EU have been suspended. Russians will still be able to travel to Finland for family, work or study purposes, according to Haavisto. “Finland is in danger of becoming an important transit country,” the foreign minister added. Finnish border guards said on Friday that the number of crossings from Russia had more than doubled in the past three days as Russians sought to escape Putin’s mobilization order. But the numbers were still well below their pre-pandemic levels. As Finland’s five-party center-left coalition government wavered, polls showed 70 percent of Finns were in favor of banning Russians. The country has long been cautious about its Russia policy, but since its decision this year to apply for NATO membership, Helsinki has become progressively more assertive with its largest neighbor to the east. EU member states are struggling to find common ground on how to respond to a surge in Russians trying to leave the country, particularly adult men. The bloc has suspended its visa facilitation agreement with Russia, making it much harder for Russians to obtain short-term travel permits, while Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have closed their borders to Russians regardless of visa status. with exceptions only for those seeking asylum or fleeing persecution. With flights between Russia and the EU suspended, land borders have become the primary way for Russians to enter the bloc. Western nations are internally divided over whether border states should seal their borders or offer sanctuary to those trying to avoid conscripting into the Russian army to fight in Ukraine. Attempting to avoid conscription will not be treated as a humanitarian exception to closing Latvia’s borders, the country’s foreign minister said this week. “Many Russians who are now leaving Russia because of the mobilization, were happy to kill Ukrainians. They didn’t protest then. It is not right to consider them conscientious objectors,” said Edgars Rinkēvičs. “There are significant security risks with accepting them and many non-EU countries should leave [to].” The comprehensive crisis meeting will not focus only on immigration issues, a person involved in its organization told the FT. “We want everyone to have the same information about what’s happening and how the situation is developing so that we can prepare for all the variations of responses.”