The Finnish consulate in St. Petersburg traditionally has the biggest burden in Russia on issuing Schengen visas. In addition, the duties of the mission include protecting the interests of Finnish citizens arriving in St. Petersburg, and a lot of them come to the city.
The diplomatic mission of Finland in St. Petersburg
From an administrative point of view, the Finnish consulate in the Northern Capital is an integral part of the Finnish Embassy in Moscow. The Finnish mission in St. Petersburg has the status of Consulate General. In turn, the St. Petersburg office has units in Petrozavodsk and Murmansk. The Finnish consulate deals with a wide range of issues of international cooperation, issues visas, protects the interests of Finns visiting Northwest Russia.
Mission employees actively interact with local authorities and promote cross-border mobility, trade, logistics and investment. Much attention in bilateral cooperation between the authorities of the north-western regions and the Finnish consulate is paid to environmental safety. The primary issue is the protection of the Gulf of Finland.
Consulate Functions
In addition to the tasks already mentioned, the diplomatic mission works closely with other Finnish authorities and Finnish organizations working in Russia. Representative office staff contribute to the mutual enrichment of Russian and Finnish cultures, organize thematic events, and also maintain contact with the Finnish communities in the region.
Of course, the ordinary citizens of the Finnish consulate in St. Petersburg are known, first of all, as an organization issuing Schengen visas. Until 2014, it issued annually about a million Finnish visas. However, after the activity of the townspeople significantly decreased for various reasons and the number of applicants fell.
Consulate History
After a peace treaty was signed between Russia and Finland in 1920, both countries began to establish diplomatic missions in neighboring capitals. While the embassy of Finland was opened in Moscow, a decision was made in St. Petersburg to organize the Consulate General.
Permission to organize a mission in St. Petersburg was obtained on January 4, 1923. Following the principle of reciprocity, the Soviet side received the right to open a consulate in Hanko or Vyborg (which then belonged to Finland). However, this institution lasted until 1938, after which it was closed at the request of the Soviet government.
The consulate was reopened on April 1, 1967, but by that time Petersburg was already called Leningrad. For the first time, the diplomatic mission staff were accommodated in the Oktyabrskaya Hotel, on Vosstaniya Square, but upon completion of repairs in an old house on Tchaikovsky Street, they moved there. In addition to the restored building in the city center, consulate employees also received a cottage in the village of Repino, 55 kilometers north of the city. The Finnish Consulate in St. Petersburg owns this house to this day.
Business expansion
In the 1980s, the consulate opened a branch in Tallinn, where employees traveled once a month for one week to issue visas to Soviet citizens. In 1990, the Finnish Consulate was opened in Petrozavodsk, and in 1992 in Murmansk.
A key place in the activities of the consulates was given to issues of cross-border trade and mobility, while political analytics was given a negligible role. However, by the mid-nineties, immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the number of visa requests had increased so much that the visa department had firmly taken a leading position for decades to come.
However, assistance to their own fellow citizens required significant efforts, because in the nineties among the Finns it was widespread, the so-called vodka-tourism, and daily delegations from Finland arrived in the city, some of which later needed help in the form of consultations or issuing new passports.
The need for a new building
While in 1988 one employee was engaged in issuing visas, by the beginning of the 2000s their number had increased to fifty. Of course, with so many employees, there was not enough space, and the Finnish Foreign Ministry raised the question of building a new consular building.
It took a year to find a suitable site for construction, and in the fall of 2001 a purchase agreement was signed. However, permission from the Russian leadership to build the institution was received only in 2003. However, a year later the building on Preobrazhenskaya Square, 4, in the immediate vicinity of the Chernyshevskaya metro station, was inaugurated.
The spacious rooms housed the visa and consular services, the office and multifunctional spaces designed for various events.
Finnish consulate in Petrozavodsk
From a formal point of view, the diplomatic office in the capital of Karelia, the city of Petrozavodsk, is not an independent institution, but is managed by the St. Petersburg Consulate of Finland. However, this affects the convenience for residents only for the better, as the residents of Petrozavodsk do not need to go to another city to obtain a visa.
In order to apply for a visa, the Finnish consulate today does not need to apply. The reception of documents is carried out by specialized visa centers, the activities of which are authorized by diplomatic missions. In Petrozavodsk, such a visa center is located on the street. Gogol, d. 6, 2nd floor. In St. Petersburg, he is located on Marat Street, 7, on the corner with Stremyannaya Street. The nearest metro station is Mayakovskaya.