I still feel Lappeenranta, right on the Russian border at the nearest point to St Petersburg (about 2-3 hours drive away) is a classic Ryanair opportunity. Big runway, lost their remaining scheduled service (a Saab 340 hop to Helsinki) this year so no vested interests. St Petersburg population is 5.5 million, a huge underserved market both inbound and outbound. A notable number of Ryanair's pax from Tampere actually drive all the way from Russia
I was about to write something very stupid. That many other Eastern-EU countries are as close to Russia as Finland. But a short glance at the map forced me to reconsider the issue. Only Estonia is almost equally close - but has not a single capable airport near the Russian border. Poland's border with Russia is pretty short, there is just Kaliningrad enclave as a neighbour with 900.000 inhabitants of the entire teritory - nothing to be accounted for. Slovakia and Hungary have a common border with Ukraine, but not with Russia. Romania is even further away. Now look at Finland and the entire EU's easternmost airport Lappeenranta! Absolutely true, it's so close to St. Petersburg! It could be an ideal strategic point for Ryanair, just in their style! An opportunity that MOL either didn't notice or underestimated this?
