Tougher requirements for Russians to enter Finland will follow, political scientist Johan Beckman, associate professor at the University of Helsinki, is sure. The expert said this while commenting on the Finnish authorities’ intentions to revise visa and residence permit requirements for Russian citizens after Russian Voislav Torden, formerly known as Jan Petrovsky, was arrested in Finland.
“The Finnish authorities may tighten the requirements for Russians to obtain visas,” Beckman told Sputnik radio. – Already now the possibilities for them to get visas have been narrowed. We are already writing that few visas are issued, mostly for relatives of those who live on the territory of Finland. By the way, Torden (Petrovsky) also received a residence permit on the basis of family ties, his wife is studying in Finland. The authorities will probably start controlling visas for relatives more tightly. In addition, the Ministry of Defence is considering a plan to ban all purchases of real estate by Russian citizens. In other words, they want to isolate Finnish society from Russians”.
Finns are grateful to Russia for not responding in a mirror-image manner to the visa restrictions already imposed by Finland, and they are able to obtain Russian visas, he continued.
“Finnish citizens still have the right to get visas, including tourist visas, they have the opportunity to go to Russia and travel in Russia as they want. Russia has not responded in a mirrored way, and this is a very interesting point. Of course, Finns are very grateful to the Russian authorities. Although the Finnish press makes it clear that the entry of Finns into Russia is prohibited in the same way as the entry of Russians into Finland. That is, our press spreads false information,” said the Finnish political scientist.
According to him, many Finns are now interested in the possibility of moving to Russia.
“[Finns] personally write to me every day with questions about how to move to Russia, how to get Russian citizenship,” Johan Beckman said.
According to the Finnish media, Torden (Petrovsky) allegedly took part on the side of the DNR and LNR in the conflict in Donbass in 2014-2015 as part of an intelligence group with, according to the EU authorities, links to the Wagner group. He entered Finland on a visa and on a residence permit that Helsinki issued to him for “family reunification”. Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said in an interview with YLE that conditions for Russians could be tightened because of the Torden situation.
“I have now requested an update on the various forms of cross-border traffic and an assessment of whether we should tighten them further,” Orpo said.
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