Customs turns back 37 Russia-registered vehicles during weekend

The import ban against cars registered in Russia that started on Saturday has decreased traffic at the border, said Finnish Customs in a press release.

By 9:00 a.m. on Monday, altogether 81 vehicles registered in Russia had arrived at the customs offices on Finland’s eastern border and the Finland-Norway border.

Customs turned back 37 of the vehicles that arrived, whereas 44 vehicles met the requirements for import.

At 00.00 hours on Saturday, Customs started applying the policy outlined by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on the import ban concerning cars registered in Russia.

“Border traffic has slowed down in an already quiet situation as concerns vehicles registered in Russia, both on Finland’s eastern border and the Finland-Norway border. Information on import bans seems to have been sufficient. However, there have been some random questions. When necessary, we will specify our policy in cooperation with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs,” said Sami Rakshit, Director of the Enforcement Department.

The highest volumes of traffic occurred in Vaalimaa and Nuijamaa, where customs authorities turned back about 30 vehicles with Russian registration plates.

Only a few Russian-registered vehicles arrived at the Finland-Norway border.