Finnish–Russian border
Encyclopedia
International Border
The India–Pakistan Border , known locally as the International Border , is the international boundary between India and Pakistan that demarcates the Indian states of Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat from the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh. Pakistan borders India in the east. The border...
between Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. It is 1,340 km long and runs mostly through uninhabited taiga
Taiga
Taiga , also known as the boreal forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests.Taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome. In North America it covers most of inland Canada and Alaska as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States and is known as the Northwoods...
forests and sparsely populated rural areas, not following any particular natural feature or river. The border is a Schengen
Schengen Area
The Schengen Area comprises the territories of twenty-five European countries that have implemented the Schengen Agreement signed in the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, in 1985...
and European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
external border.
Border crossing is controlled and patrolled by the Finnish Border Guard
Finnish Border Guard
The Finnish Border guard is the national security agency responsible for enforcing the security of Finland's borders...
and Border Guard Service of Russia
Border Guard Service of Russia
The Border Service of Russia , also called the Border Force of Russia is a branch of Federal Security Service of Russia tasked with patrol of the Russian border. In English, the terms "Border Guards" and "Border Troops" are frequently used to designate this service...
, who also enforce border zone
Border zone
Border zones are areas near borders of states that have special restrictions to movement. Governments may forbid unauthorized entry to border zones and restrict property ownership in the area. The zones function as buffer zones specifically monitored by border patrols in order to prevent illegal...
s (3–5 km on the Finnish side, 7.5 km on the Russian side
Border Security Zone of Russia
The Border Security Zone in Russia is the designation of a strip of land where economic activity and access are restricted without permission of the FSB. In order to visit the zone, a permit issued by the local FSB department is required. The restricted access zone The Border Security Zone in...
). Entry to a border zone requires a permit, with visa
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
s being required for border crossing. Major border checkpoints are found in Vaalimaa
Vaalimaa
Vaalimaa is a border crossing point between Finland and Russia. It is located in the Virolahti municipality. With over 2 million annual crossings, it is the busiest border crossing in the Finnish-Russian border, which is also the border of the European Union and Russia. European route E18 passes...
and Nuijamaa, where customs services on both respective sides inspect and levy fees on transported goods.
The limiting points are a tripoint
Tripoint
A tripoint, or trijunction , is a geographical point at which the borders of three countries or subnational entities meet....
of Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Finland and Russia in the north, and the Gulf of Finland
Gulf of Finland
The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. Other major cities around the gulf include Helsinki and Tallinn...
, where there is a maritime boundary
Maritime boundary
Maritime boundary is a conceptual means of division of the water surface of the planet into maritime areas that are defined through surrounding physical geography or by human geography. As such it usually includes areas of exclusive national rights over the mineral and biological resources,...
between the respective territorial waters
Territorial waters
Territorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most from the baseline of a coastal state...
, terminating in a narrow strip of international waters
International waters
The terms international waters or trans-boundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regional seas and estuaries, rivers, lakes, groundwater systems , and wetlands.Oceans,...
between Finnish and Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
n territorial waters.
It was demarcated in the Treaty of Paris
Paris Peace Treaties, 1947
The Paris Peace Conference resulted in the Paris Peace Treaties signed on February 10, 1947. The victorious wartime Allied powers negotiated the details of treaties with Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland .The...
(1947) following the Continuation War
Continuation War
The Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II.At the time of the war, the Finnish side used the name to make clear its perceived relationship to the preceding Winter War...
(1941–44), where Finnish Karelia
Finnish Karelia
Karelia is a historical province of Finland. It refers to the Western Karelia that during the second millennium has been under western dominance, religiously and politically. Western, i.e. Finnish Karelia is separate from Eastern, i.e...
and Petsamo
Petsamo
Petsamo may refer to:*A former area of Finland, which is now Pechengsky District and part of Kolsky District of Russia*Finnish name for the urban-type settlement of Pechenga, Russia...
were ceded to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. The naval border was established in 1940 and more accurately defined in 1965. The border is uncontroversial and clearly defined in law. Both states verified the inviolability of borders and territorial integrity in the first Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe in 1975. An earlier demarcation was the Treaty of Tartu
Treaty of Tartu (Russian–Finnish)
The Treaty of Tartu between Finland and Soviet Russia was signed on 14 October 1920 after negotiations that lasted for four months. The treaty confirmed the border between Finland and Soviet Russia after the Finnish civil war and Finnish volunteer expeditions in Russian East Karelia. Ratifications...
in 1920.
List of border checkpoints
- ImatraImatraImatra is a town and municipality in eastern Finland, founded in 1948 around three industrial settlements near the Finnish–Russian border. In the course of the last 50 years, this amorphous group of settlements has grown into a modern industrial town dominated by Lake Saimaa, the Vuoksi River and...
- Kelloselkä
- Lehtovaara
- Niirala
- Nuijamaa
- Raja-Jooseppi
- VaalimaaVaalimaaVaalimaa is a border crossing point between Finland and Russia. It is located in the Virolahti municipality. With over 2 million annual crossings, it is the busiest border crossing in the Finnish-Russian border, which is also the border of the European Union and Russia. European route E18 passes...
- VainikkalaVainikkalaVainikkala is a small village in Lappeenranta South Karelia, Eastern Finland. Vainikkala is known to most people as a border town between Finland and Russia. All passenger trains between Finland and Russia stop at Vainikkala border post. The distance between Lappeenranta and Vainikkala is about ....
(rail) - Vartius