In order to say definitely it's necessary to see the actual train somewhere on the route. So if you plan to buy tickets in Helsinki, you can just come to the station few days in advance around departure and check yourself. If it's not an option, then our guess, when departing from Helsinki facing forward will be beds in compartment 1 (berth #1 and #2) and compartment 3 (berth #5 and #6). Explanations as follows: now runs only one VIP carriage (carriage number one), it should be first after locomotive when departing from Moscow (in all the former Soviet countries numbering is from the "head" of the train when departing from the station where this train is formed, Moscow in case of "Lev Tolstoy"), thus it's last (if not mistaken there is no direction change anywhere on route) when departing from Helsinki. And there is no way it will be scheme "rest of the train - VIP section - bar", since it should be "rest of the train - bar - VIP section" --> avoiding any passengers walking through the VIP section. But even if the above guess is wrong, then, imho, it's not very big deal, because judging from the
VIP compartment, there are special couch opposing the bed, so in order to face forward you can just seat on that couch
Author