“Cross the border in three ways: by plane, by train or by car. And to pass through the neutral zone on a wheelchair – no” – the response I received Maria Veselova when she was going to go for treatment in Sweden through Finland and asked the Border Department of the Federal security service in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region.
About this incident and his misadventures she told the “MK”.
Lawyer Maria Veselova lives in two houses – in Moscow and in Sweden. Often the work happens in the capital. Because of the pandemic, it has not been able to return to Sweden, where treated.
– In mid-April I was trying to go through Belarus. But the border was closed, – says Maria. – Since I am a lawyer and know how to read the documents, I understand that when the decision was made to close the borders, nobody in that time thought that there are people who want to go just for medical reasons. I, for example, over medications that are made to order. In Moscow it is impossible to obtain.
As Maria Veselova has a Swedish passport, a week ago she decided to go to Sweden via Finland.
there was a man who was ready to take me to the border, also there was a man who was ready to meet me on the other side, in Finland, and take them to the airport in Helsinki. I knew that half a kilometer neutral zone, I have to drive on your own chair. The guards had only one question, whether to take with me a suitcase, can someone help me move him, or is limited to the handbag. I called the Border Department of the Federal security service in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. And the lovely man on duty told me that the government are only three ways how to cross the border. The first plane, the second rail and the third by car. And I, as said, to cross the border was impossible. A wheelchair does not included in any of these three points. The truth is that funny?
On the question of Maria Veselova if she could get into a passing car, the representative of the Border Department said, “of Course, you can sit in the car, but it can wait for two to three days. Because at the moment they do not go”.
And then I was asked to write a letter to the Deputy Prime Minister on social policy Tatyana Golikova for letting a particular driver on a particular machine, that it can pass through the neutral zone, and then to return back, says Veselova.
– How dare question?
Friends sent me to Sweden on a private jet. I want to appeal to the government of the Russian Federation – when close the border, need to be individealno to every single person, it is impossible to consider the people just the word “people”. Then the restrictions of departure from Russia and entry into the country was reduced. Have the opportunity to go for treatment, for work, study, to care for sick relatives, by presenting relevant documents. But I still laugh when I remember that to cross the border by plane, by train, by car and on the stroller – not!
