Finland pays millions for Saimaa Canal crossing Russian border — used by nobody

Finland continues to pay millions for the Saimaa Canal, which crosses the border into Russia, even though no ships are using it. The head of the Saimaa Canal commissioner's office, Seppo Kykkänen, believes no vessels will pass through the canal this summer.

Finland is spending millions of euros to maintain the Saimaa Canal — a waterway that crosses the Finnish-Russian border — despite the fact that virtually no one is using it. Seppo Kykkänen, head of the office of the Finnish commissioner for the Saimaa Canal, has stated that he does not expect a single ship to pass through the canal this summer.

The Saimaa Canal connects Finland's Lake Saimaa to the Gulf of Finland, with a section running through Russian territory in the Leningrad Oblast. The canal has historically been leased by Russia to Finland, but since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, traffic through the waterway has effectively ground to a halt as relations between the two countries have deteriorated sharply.

Despite the complete absence of commercial or other maritime traffic, Finland is still obligated to cover the costs associated with the canal's operation and maintenance under the terms of its lease agreement with Russia. These costs amount to millions of euros, raising difficult questions in Helsinki about the continued financial commitment to an asset that has become essentially unusable.

The situation illustrates the broader economic and logistical consequences that Finland — and other countries bordering Russia — have faced since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Cross-border infrastructure that once served as a bridge between East and West has been effectively frozen, leaving Finland to bear significant financial burdens with no practical benefit in return.

As long as the war in Ukraine continues and Finnish-Russian relations remain strained, there appears to be no realistic prospect of restoring traffic through the Saimaa Canal. Finnish authorities have not yet publicly outlined any plans to renegotiate the lease terms or seek compensation for the ongoing costs.