Russia shutters select rail links to Finland and Baltic neighbors
Russia announced a temporary suspension of rail traffic at selected border crossings with Finland (including Vyborg, Vartsilya, Lyuttya, Saint Petersburg-Finlandsky, and Svetogorsk) and at the Pechory-Pskov (Estonia) and Pytalovo (Latvia) crossings, without giving reasons. The move comes as Finland partners with a US defense firm on an MLRS maintenance center and amid persistent talk of a new Russian mobilization, all within a climate of heightened security tensions near NATO.