Third of those passing through Narva border crossing from abroad
This summer, a third of those passing through the Narva border crossing have not come from Estonia or Russia but from other countries. The number of people crossing the border in Narva with Finnish passports has been 30 times higher compared to last year.
The head of the Narva border crossing, Marek Liiva, told ERR that foreign nationals started appearing in the border queue when air traffic between the European Union and Russia was halted.
"We are quite used to seeing a truly international crowd here, especially in summer when people take vacations and travel more. This is not something new for us," Liiva said.
As of June and July, Estonian and Russian citizens have passed through the Narva border crossing over 120,000 times. Citizens from other countries have crossed 70,000 times, with the majority of these border crossers coming from Finland.
The decision by Finland to close its entire eastern border has influenced Estonian border crossings. While last year over 1,000 Finnish citizens crossed the Narva border from January to July, this year the number has risen to 33,000.
Liiva noted that the number of people with Finnish residence permits or Finnish citizens among all border crossers ranges from 10 to 15 percent during different periods, which is significant.
"It depends on vacation periods and possibly holidays. Sometimes we see more people here, and sometimes fewer, depending on work and family ties. But it's hard to predict what their proportion will be in the future. September and autumn will bring new numbers and ratios," Liiva said.
To reduce the waiting time, the Police and Border Guard Board has recommended that those who are forced to wait move to the Luhamaa and Koidula border crossings, while emphasizing that travel to Russia is still not advisable.
Starting August 8, the Tax and Customs Board will begin a transition to full customs checks at the Narva, Luhamaa and Koidula border crossings.
Liiva mentioned that the border guard is therefore preparing for even longer queues.
"The preparations include further informing people about the consequences if they cannot cross the border, as the border crossing operates from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and people need to consider that they only have the opportunity to cross within that time frame," Liiva noted.
Since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine, citizens of the Russian Federation have crossed the Narva border nearly two million times.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski
