Despite the closed border, Finland still buys wigs, soy sauce and playing cards from Russia

Despite sanctions and a closed land border, Finland continues to import very unusual goods from Russia. According to Finnish customs, monthly small imports amount to about a million euros, and among them come real surprises.

Just this year, artificial beards, wigs and similar products worth about 7 thousand euros arrived in Finland. And last year, the Finns managed to buy playing cards for 10 thousand euros and soy sauce for almost 30 thousand. These seemingly trifles demonstrate that trade ties are not completely exhausted.

Of course, there are larger positions. Hundreds of thousands of euros worth of sports goods and printed products were imported, and biological medicines amounted to almost 5.5 million euros last year.

All of these goods account for only a small fraction of Russia’s total imports to Finland, which were estimated at 840 million euros last year. The main share (about 90%) were ammonia and nickel linen, which were delivered by rail. There is no direct road traffic after the borders are closed at the end of 2023, and most goods enter Finland by sea through other EU countries.

Finnish customs reminds: not all Russian goods are subject to sanctions. The main EU restrictions focus on energy raw materials, metals and machinery.