Finland stops allowing cars with Russian number plates

Driving cars registered in Russia in Finland is no longer possible without a special permit as from Saturday, 16 March. Source: Finnish tabloid Ilta-Sanomat citing Finnish Customs, as reported by European Pravda Details: A car with Russian registration plates in Finland may now be subject to customs duties and VAT, after which it must leave the EU. 

Driving a car with Russian registration plates will sometimes be allowed, including for full-time students, people working under fixed-term employment contracts or citizens of the EU or European Economic Area who permanently reside in Russia.

However, they must prove that they legally imported the car into Finland before the ban took effect. Background: 

• All Baltic countries have now banned the entry of cars with Russian number plates. Poland, Finland, Norway and Bulgaria have also introduced such bans.

  The Lithuanian Customs Department confiscated the first car with Russian number plates at the Medininkai checkpoint on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border on 11 March.

• Meanwhile, Russians are using the Kaliningrad transit train to get to the EU via Lithuania. 

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