Russia - concern or not?

[Ninja.turtle]

Hi,

We are about to head back to the UK to obtain visas for Russia. And to travel over the summer to Mongolia and back.

We planned this months ago, but now the political climate has changed.

The UK Gov. travel advice seems okay. But we have 2 children so we must be careful.

Obviously, no one can predict the future, but any thoughts or advice would be awesome.

Thank you

Tom

[Lovetheworld]

We are also going with kids this summer. Also going through the stans.
I am not to worried (okay, I'm Dutch not UK). I worry more about typical things. Like low kind of criminality in the city or stuff like that.
Or driving there with some dangerous drivers on the road. Or all the mosquitos :P
But I'm not to worried about it, it is the same kind of stuff as in other countries.

Once you are out of the cities and meet the locals, I think you will meet nice people who will try to help you, even though they don't speak a word of English.

Perhaps you should worry more about getting a visa in the first place? It will probably be fine, but I would try to get it done quickly. Maybe the situation calms down, maybe it escalates further, affecting consular services.
And what type of visa will you try to get?

[klausmong1]

Politics within 2 countries is one thing, the people of the countries another thing.

So dont worry, people in Russia are friendly and dont care about what Politics sees in your country.

So I dont see any problems.
maybe getting visa will be harder.

[Walkabout]

Originally Posted by Ninja.turtle

Hi,

We are about to head back to the UK to obtain visas for Russia. And to travel over the summer to Mongolia and back.

We planned this months ago, but now the political climate has changed.

The UK Gov. travel advice seems okay. But we have 2 children so we must be careful.

Obviously, no one can predict the future, but any thoughts or advice would be awesome.

Thank you

Tom

A few bullet points as a means of reply and things to ponder:

No one knows the future.

There is a football event there in about 3 months time, known as the "world cup".

That world cup could be used as a political statement by the UK government, should the latter be inclined to bring sport into politics (and that would not be the first time for a UK government e.g. politics related to South Africa of some years ago).

An easy means for the UK to implement such an act would be to raise the 'threat level' of the official policy, thereby negating travel insurance policy coverage to dissuade football fans from travelling to the country.

Personally, I would keep a close eye on the posturing that is taking place right now and make a judgement based on that when that decision becomes due.
That does mean that we have to take note of the BS that is out there while trying to discern the signal from the noise.

[Lovetheworld]

Yes I agree. But it does mean he can decide to get the visa as quickly as possible, knowing that you can get it now. And perhaps maybe not later.

[captinktm]

I rode through Russia last year and did n't like it at all. The police are still corrupt and the roads are dangerous, not because of pot holes but crazy drivers. There were armed road blocks every 100/200 km I traveled up through Dagestan and it was difficult to get fuel in a lot of towns. I would avoid going through Russia. There are plenty of other ways.
Getting a Russian visa was expensive as well.

[Lovetheworld]

If you want to go to Mongolia there aren't so many options.

And you travelled through Dagestan, that is one of the more unstable regions of Russia. I don't think you can compare all of Russia with Dagestan.

But yeah, the dangerous drivers are every where in Russia I guess.

[klausmong1]

Originally Posted by captinktm

I rode through Russia last year and did n't like it at all. The police are still corrupt and the roads are dangerous, not because of pot holes but crazy drivers. There were armed road blocks every 100/200 km I traveled up through Dagestan and it was difficult to get fuel in a lot of towns. I would avoid going through Russia. There are plenty of other ways.
Getting a Russian visa was expensive as well.

Well, I was travelling in Russia more than 30.000km already, and I saw lot of it.
That it is different in Dagestan I can understand, but for the Rest of Russia I have totally different experience, and I think I can tell that I have seen a lot there.


Never had problems getting fuel in Russia.

I would not consider the streets as dangerous.

By the way, what about the Austrian road in Kazakhstan you did last year?

You said that you will get through?

Did you do it ?

[Ninja.turtle]

We will be back home on wednesday and have 3 weeks to get our visa or not.

Is this another example of the media blowing things out of all proportion?

For us to head east we really have no other option than going through Russia.

[Lovetheworld]

I don't think that the people you will meet along the way will be affected by any of this stuff that is on the news. It is all politics, the common man has nothing to do with it.

[Ninja.turtle]

Originally Posted by Lovetheworld

I don't think that the people you will meet along the way will be affected by any of this stuff that is on the news. It is all politics, the common man has nothing to do with it.

My sentiments exactly.

In the 9 months we have been travelling, we have only met good people. - amazingly friendly

It's totally changed the way we think and trust.

[Ninja.turtle]

Thank you all for your replies.

We are going to pursue obtaining visa and go for it. - unless something very bad happens

[Lovetheworld]

What are your plans? We are also with a family and will go through the stans. This means we only drive in Moscow region, and later Altai region.

[Walkabout]

Originally Posted by Ninja.turtle

Is this another example of the media blowing things out of all proportion?

One of those factors, a significant one as far as the owners of the media are concerned, in separating the signal from the noise.

[Ninja.turtle]

Originally Posted by Lovetheworld

What are your plans? We are also with a family and will go through the stans. This means we only drive in Moscow region, and later Altai region.

At the moment we do not have a route. We kind of make it up as we go.

We landed at Gatwick a few hours ago and hope to get the wheels in motion tomorrow.

We have a FB page and will post up on there as and when.

Resfeber.co.uk