ALLEGRO trains will stop operating a connection between Helsinki and St. Petersburg on Saturday, reports the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.
The Finnish Minister for European Affairs Tytti Tuppurainen on Thursday sent a letter to VR, the Finnish state-owned railway company operating the trains, saying that the continuation of the service was no longer appropriate.
Tuppurainen said that the train service was provided to allow Finnish nationals living in Russia to return to Finland. Relatively few Finns remain in Russia.
“We now see that the situation has changed with regard to Allegro. Continuation of Allegro’s services is no longer expedient from the state owner’s perspective,” she told the daily newspaper.
Allegro trains are owned by Karelian Trains, a joint venture of VR and Russian Railways (RZD).
Both the EU and the US have imposed sanctions on RZD.