Russia urgently suspends railway border crossings with Europe
Russia has abruptly suspended operations at seven railway border crossings with Finland, Estonia and Latvia from the morning of 1 July.
The order, published by the Russian Government on 30 June, came without prior notice.
The one-page decree instructs the Foreign Ministry to inform Finland, Latvia and Estonia of the decision to "temporarily suspend, from 1 July 2026, the movement of people, vehicles, goods and cargo through railway checkpoints across the state border of the Russian Federation in certain sections."
There are three railway lines connecting Russia and Finland: Lyttä, Värtsilä and Enso.
Finland has kept all road border crossings with Russia closed since November 2023, after Russia's FSB facilitated the movement of migrants across the border as part of what Finnish authorities described as a hybrid operation aimed at destabilising the country's border regime.
Since then, rail traffic has only been permitted through the Vainikkala border station near Lappeenranta.
The Finnish Foreign Ministry told state broadcaster YLE on Wednesday morning that it had not received any official notification from Moscow about the railway closures.
The order also temporarily closes the railway crossings at Pechory-Pskovskiye on the Estonian border and Pytalovo on the Latvian border from 1 July.
