St. Petersburg’s Governor stood up for ferry’s passengers before Finnish President

St. Petersburg’s Governor Georgiy Poltavechenko met Finland’s President Sauly Niiniste during his visit to Helsinki. Among other issues, the governor paid special attention to the situation with changes in the procedure of crossing the border by Russian citizens who are the passengers of Saint Petersburg-bound ferries, calling at some Schengen countries.

There used to be border control only for entry and departure from Schengen zone, and now the Russians have to go through border control at every post along the ferry’s route. New regulations, adopted on Finland’s initiative, came into force from March 1, 2012. According to the governor, this might lead to decrease of tourist’s activity. For further cooperation in this sphere it’s necessary to review the practice of board control passing procedure.

Georgiy Poltavchenko asked Sauly Niiniste to revert to discussion of this subject. The President of Finland promised to appeal to his European colleagues to bring out the issue of passing boarding control for Russian citizens – passengers of the ferries.