Permits in north Caucasus?
 

Hi

Do anyone know about border zone permits/special permits in North Caucasus? Do I need them or not? I´ve heard both yes and no...

I plan to visit (by bicycle) North-Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechen and Dagestan. I want to go to Dargav and to the Lake Kyozenoyam. I prefer small roads, of course.

I have a business visa and a passport from a EU-country.

Cheers

You need a border permit if you wish to visit a border zone.

Just transiting those republics requires no permit.

Dargavs rquires a restricted areas permit, to be applied for in Vladikavkaz, about two months in advance.

Damn it. I really wanted to visit Dargavs. And I guess North Ossetia is not the place to sneak in to closed areas in..

But alright. Border zones then? How do I like... know when I enter a border zone? Military checkpoints?

My plan is to travel down from Volgograd and hopefully explore a little bit of the western parts of north Caucasus, there are some high passes north of Elbrus for example. After that I plan to continue to Georgia and Armenia. Some weeks later I will return to Russia and turn east on that road 15 k´s north of the border (avoiding Vladikavkaz). Then I will travel down to the main E50 road and continue east to Grozny. A few k´s east of Grozny there are a road that goes southeast into the mountains, close to lake Kyosenoyam on the border between Chechnya and Dagestan. A bit later the road turns north again and back to E50 in the town of Khasavyurt.

Another options is to continute on tracks from that point 15 k´s north of the Russia/Georgia border all the way to the lake Kyosenoyam, and avoid both Vladikavkaz and the big E50 road. (E50 on google maps, M29 on my paper map)

Do you know if I can travel that route with only a valid visa? And... latest news about the safety situation in the area...?

Thanks eurasiaoverland and others!