STOCKHOLM, July 25. /TASS/. Finland does not intend to limit issuance of Schengen visas to Russian citizens, Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering Tytti Tuppurainen told the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper on Monday.

"Finland's line is to support the EU's general sanctions policy. This issue [of visa restrictions] should be resolved at the level of the EU and the Schengen Agreement countries," she stressed.

Thus, Finland will not stop issuing tourist visas to Russians, as the Baltic States, the Czech Republic and Poland, in particular, have done, the newspaper notes.

Earlier, a number of Finnish parliamentarians suggested suspending issuance of visas to citizens of the Russian Federation due to the conflict in Ukraine. Chairman of the True Finns party Riikka Purra called on the government "to take practical measures on this issue" in a message on Twitter. Representatives of the Finland Center party, which is part of the republic's coalition government, expressed the same position in an interview with Ilta-Sanomat.

Restrictions on entry, imposed in connection with the pandemic on the Finnish border, were abolished from July 1, 2022. On the same day, Finland began accepting visa applications from all categories of Russian citizens. It is still impossible to get from Russia to Finland by train or plane, so those who want to get in should travel by car or bus.

According to the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), more than 3.6 million Russians visited Finland in 2019.