Editing Saimaa Canal (section)

==History==
[[File:Сайменский канал 0005.jpg|thumb|right|Saimaa Canal in 1903, photo by [[Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky|Prokudin-Gorskii]]]]
The canal, inaugurated in 1856, was built between the cities of [[Lappeenranta]] and [[Vyborg|Viipuri]] (now part of Russia), both of them then in the autonomous [[Grand Duchy of Finland]] in the [[Russian Empire]].

In the [[Moscow Peace Treaty (1940)|Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940]], Finland ceded the [[Karelian Isthmus]] and Vyborg to the [[Soviet Union]]; control of the canal was divided and traffic ended.

Finland obtained a 50-year [[Concessions and leases in international relations|lease]] on the Soviet part of the canal and [[Maly Vysotsky Island]] (Ravansaari) in 1963. Finland constructed a deeper {{convert|42.9|km}} canal, which opened in 1968. The annual rent during this lease increased only once.

In 2010, Finland obtained a second 50-year lease from Russia, starting in 2013.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/13597| title=Russian-Finnish agreement on the lease of Saimaa Canal ratified |website=President of Russia |date=20 Nov 2011 |access-date=27 April 2019}}</ref> Maly Vysotsky was not included in the new lease. Negotiations in 2008 had raised the annual rent from {{€|290,000|link=yes}} to {{€|1.22&nbsp;million}}, with revisions every 10 years. The new agreement went into effect on 17&nbsp;February 2012.

Regulations pertaining to maritime rules and employment of canal staff fall under Finnish jurisdiction; in all other cases Russian laws apply. Passports are required at the international boundaries, but [[Russian visa]]s are not required for just passing through the canal.

The canal is as of 2024 open for traffic despite the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|Ukraine War]].<ref name=saima-kanal-oppnas-den-24-juni/>