A of the few remaining routes from Russia to the European Union, trains to Finland are crowded with The Russians fear that it is now their last chance for escape impact of Western sanctions.
After two years of pandemic, the 6:40 a.m. train from St. Petersburg was packed with mostly Russian passengers as it stopped at Helsinki train station on Thusday.
“We have decided with our families are leaving back like soon as possiblebecause on don’t know what the situation will be in a week,” Muscovite Polina Poliakova told Agence France-Presse (AFP) as she drove her suitcase along the new quay.
Traveling “is hard now because everything is being cancelled, ” added Beata Iukhtanova, son friend who studies with son in Paris, where the duo were headed.
The Allegro express train connecting Saint Petersburg to the Finnish capital is currently the only open railway line between Russia and the EU.
It is therefore one of the few remaining routes out of the country since widespread airspace closures in reply to russia invasion of Ukraine a week ago.
“Trains from St. Petersburg to Helsinki are now full for the next few days,” said Topi Simola, senior vice-president of Finnish VR train operator.
He said the number of passengers had jumped on Saturday, two days after Moscow started son assault on Ukraine.
Since then, peoplethe motivations for traveling on the three-and-a-half-time, twice-a day service seems to have changeddit Simola.
“We can see in the luggage they carry that people are moving elsewhere, they are essentially moving for good.”
‘We are lucky’
The Allegro train to Helsinki, however, is only open to a select few. Russia stipulates that passengers must be Russian or Finnish citizens, a visa is required, and passengers must prove they have an EU-recognized COVID-19 vaccine, not the Sputnik dose, which is most often given in Russia.
Most of the passengers are therefore Russians who live Where work in Europe, as 14-year-old Maria and her mother Svetlana, who took a last-minute train to Finland after cancellation of their flight on Sunday back in Austria, where they live.
“Everyone was like’I do not know what to do,'” Maria told AFP. “At first we thought we should travel through Turkey, but it’s way more expensive than Finland, so we are lucky.”
VR, which operates the service in Partnership with Russian Railways, seeks to open the service to EU passport holders and increase capacity.
“We know that there are dozens of thousands of EU citizens remain in Russia and we assume that many of they would like to come back home”Simola said.
“Desperate” to leave
Since start of the invasionbig numbers of Russians are reportedly seeking to leave the country, worried about impending border closures and the impact of Western sanctions.
“Numerous people are in a panic,” Daria said, arriving back in Helsinki a week or two earlier than planned, to resume his studies.
“I know some people who desperate to go abroad at the moment,” said Elena, a Russian who live and work in Finland and who does not have want for use son full Name.
Elena was visiting him native Moscow at the start of the assault on Ukraine last Thursday, and changed son flight back to Finland on the same day, becoming one of the last travel before the suspension of flights to the EU.
Many of people “don’t feel safe, they know that the economic situation will be very hard from now onet also numerous people from a moral point of view, I can’t bear to stay”, the 37-year-old told AFP.
While the trains out of Russia has been sold out, the return service from Helsinki to St Petersburg was only 30% full, Simola told AFP.
“I have no intention of going back in Russia anytime soonthat’s for sure“, said Helen.
But she added that despite the difficulties there, “it is impossible to compare it to the horrors that occur in Ukraine right now.”
According to media reports, Russian oligarchs have started evacuating their families to Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries.
A of the few remaining routes from Russia to the European Union, trains to Finland are crowded with The Russians fear that it is now their last chance for escape impact of Western sanctions.
After two years of pandemic, the 6:40 a.m. train from St. Petersburg was packed with mostly Russian passengers as it stopped at Helsinki train station on Thusday.
“We have decided with our families are leaving back like soon as possiblebecause on don’t know what the situation will be in a week,” Muscovite Polina Poliakova told Agence France-Presse (AFP) as she drove her suitcase along the new quay.
Traveling “is hard now because everything is being cancelled, ” added Beata Iukhtanova, son friend who studies with son in Paris, where the duo were headed.
The Allegro express train connecting Saint Petersburg to the Finnish capital is currently the only open railway line between Russia and the EU.
It is therefore one of the few remaining routes out of the country since widespread airspace closures in reply to russia invasion of Ukraine a week ago.
“Trains from St. Petersburg to Helsinki are now full for the next few days,” said Topi Simola, senior vice-president of Finnish VR train operator.
He said the number of passengers had jumped on Saturday, two days after Moscow started son assault on Ukraine.
Since then, peoplethe motivations for traveling on the three-and-a-half-time, twice-a day service seems to have changeddit Simola.
“We can see in the luggage they carry that people are moving elsewhere, they are essentially moving for good.”
‘We are lucky’
The Allegro train to Helsinki, however, is only open to a select few. Russia stipulates that passengers must be Russian or Finnish citizens, a visa is required, and passengers must prove they have an EU-recognized COVID-19 vaccine, not the Sputnik dose, which is most often given in Russia.
Most of the passengers are therefore Russians who live Where work in Europe, as 14-year-old Maria and her mother Svetlana, who took a last-minute train to Finland after cancellation of their flight on Sunday back in Austria, where they live.
“Everyone was like’I do not know what to do,'” Maria told AFP. “At first we thought we should travel through Turkey, but it’s way more expensive than Finland, so we are lucky.”
VR, which operates the service in Partnership with Russian Railways, seeks to open the service to EU passport holders and increase capacity.
“We know that there are dozens of thousands of EU citizens remain in Russia and we assume that many of they would like to come back home”Simola said.
“Desperate” to leave
Since start of the invasionbig numbers of Russians are reportedly seeking to leave the country, worried about impending border closures and the impact of Western sanctions.
“Numerous people are in a panic,” Daria said, arriving back in Helsinki a week or two earlier than planned, to resume his studies.
“I know some people who desperate to go abroad at the moment,” said Elena, a Russian who live and work in Finland and who does not have want for use son full Name.
Elena was visiting him native Moscow at the start of the assault on Ukraine last Thursday, and changed son flight back to Finland on the same day, becoming one of the last travel before the suspension of flights to the EU.
Many of people “don’t feel safe, they know that the economic situation will be very hard from now onet also numerous people from a moral point of view, I can’t bear to stay”, the 37-year-old told AFP.
While the trains out of Russia has been sold out, the return service from Helsinki to St Petersburg was only 30% full, Simola told AFP.
“I have no intention of going back in Russia anytime soonthat’s for sure“, said Helen.
But she added that despite the difficulties there, “it is impossible to compare it to the horrors that occur in Ukraine right now.”
According to media reports, Russian oligarchs have started evacuating their families to Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries.