Russia temporarily closes railway checkpoints on borders with Finland, Latvia and Estonia

The Russian government has decided to suspend traffic from 1 July through a number of railway checkpoints on the border with Finland, Estonia and Latvia.

Source: European Pravda, citing an order by the Russian government

Quote: "From 1 July 2026, temporarily suspend the movement of persons, vehicles, goods and cargo through railway checkpoints across the state border of the Russian Federation on certain sections of the state border of the Russian Federation, in accordance with the list set out in the annex."

Details: The largest number of checkpoints will be closed on the border with Finland. The rail hubs affected are Vyborg, Vyartsilya, Lyuttya, St Petersburg-Finlyandsky and Svetogorsk. Rail traffic will also be completely suspended on the Russia-Estonia section through the Pechory-Pskovskie checkpoint and on the border with Latvia, where the Pytalovo checkpoint will stop operating.

Russia's Foreign Ministry was instructed to notify Finland, Estonia and Latvia of the decision. No explanation was provided for the closures.

Background:

• Finnish President Alexander Stubb has played down concerns that Russia could soon seek to test NATO's Article 5 by attacking one of the Alliance's member states.
• Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service believes Russia has no intention of launching a military attack on any NATO state this or next year but will continue rebuilding its armed forces out of concern over European rearmament.

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