When you maximize for geodesic distance, why would you go over Sweden and Finland? There are more direct ways to connect e.g. Frankfurt to Moscow, while leaving

When you maximize for geodesic distance, why would you go over Sweden and Finland? There are more direct ways to connect e.g. Frankfurt to Moscow, while leaving all the other things the same, so having the same geodesic distance. Edit: Ah, I missed that: Ways around borders closed to passenger trains due to COVID and political tensions in Europe