Anxious Russians flee by the hundreds each day into neighbouring Finland

The trains from the east pulling into Platform 9 at Helsinki's central train station are packed, transporting nearly 700 passengers from Russia each day, as people seek to escape the uncertainty and fear the war in Ukraine has brought to their own country.

A 25-year-old student looked around anxiously as she stepped off the train in the Finnish capital. She asked not to be identified, as she fears repercussions.

"It is unstable [in Russia] now," she told CBC News, describing a feeling of unease in her country that prompted her to have severe panic attacks.  

She pulled out her phone to show photos snapped in the days before she left St. Petersburg, one in support of Ukraine — with yellow and blue ribbons tied to a tree — and another of a giant Z broadcast on a multimedia screen in a subway station. The letter Z has morphed into a pro-war symbol in Russia, painted on tanks advancing on Ukrainian territory. 

"Some of my friends have been arrested already, some have been fined, some have been released," said the student, who has now joined her Russian boyfriend in Helsinki and doesn't know when — or if — she'll return home. 

"Many of my friends are fleeing Russia as well." 

Crossing into Finland is one of the few remaining routes out of Russia for those looking to escape the economic uncertainty related to punishing sanctions or to avoid a new law criminalizing spreading what the Kremlin deems to be "fake" news, a charge that could lead to 15 years in jail.  

Just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his invasion of Ukraine, the twice-daily trains destined for Finland from St. Petersburg, on a line reserved for Finnish and Russian nationals, started filling up. A few weeks ago, an official said, the trains were operating at about 20 per cent capacity.

"We can see the demand is quite high for now," said Viktoria Hurri, director of Finnish-Russian passenger services at VR Group, Finland's national railway. The train line is run jointly by VR Group and its Russian counterpart. 

"So now we're proposing to our colleagues to … put a third train also running daily," she said. The hope is the third daily run would start next week, with the option to eventually expand to the pre-pandemic four trains a day. 

Hurri confirmed VR Group has asked Russian Railways for permission to allow other nationalities to take the Allegro train, which would allow expatriates in Russia to use the train to depart the country. The decision would need to be made by both Finnish and Russian rail companies. 

After more than 30 countries closed their airspace to Russian flights, Dmitry, a 26-year old Russian PhD student, said the only option for him to get to Paris was a circuitous route by bus from Moscow, via St. Petersburg and Helsinki, where he can board a flight. 

He wasn't planning on leaving Russia but changed his mind after what he called a "long reflection," abandoning his PhD field work study as the war in Ukraine intensified. 

"I was starting to get a little bit worried due to the legislation that they were beginning to pass in the Russian Duma and I thought it's better not to risk [it]," he told CBC News, asking that we use his first name only because he fears for his safety.