I've never been to Russia. So I have no authority on it whatsoever. But it's not wise to assume that all is well with travellers.

I was at the Armchair adv festival a couple of weeks ago and watched the presentation by Charlie Walker.

He was minding his own business travelling in Siberia. And then thrown into jail for spying and speading lies. All false.

He was extremely lucky to get out. You're 100% on your own if anything goes downhil. There are zero relations with the home-office.

Maybe it will be fine. Maybe you'll be made a political pawn. It's not a risk I'd take at the moment. So I'm heading to Central America next week.

Worth a read.

https://explorersweb.com/isolation-c...putins-russia/

Yes money is a problem cards do not work you have to do currency exchange and carry enough cash. I have gone from KZ to Finland in June and from Georgia to Central Asia in July and that was the biggest issue.

I was not able to get insurance when I got in and russian bikers told me that b/c of sanctions insurance companies stopped insuring motorcycles; so they ride without it. Fines are pretty minimal if you get stopped or so they say.

Surprisingly my US phone worked didn't have to get local SIM card. Population was pretty friendly except for one Karen hotel manager but that could happen anywhere/anytime.

My suggestion stick to big border x-ing if you get flagged for additional checks they're much more business-like; on small x-ings if you get marooned for military background or looking too fit you may have to wait for tier-2 guys take an hour+ to arrive from nearest town and then take sweet time talking to you.

Missed you in Bishkek. Didn't know there is anyone else here this time of year. Apart from Russians in their 20-30s filling the hotels.

For sure hotels in major cities in Kazakh and Kyrgyzstan are full. Prices are a bit nuts due to the Russian exodus. Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Armenia and Georgia are very popular due to 1) there are flights and or direct borders 2) everyone speaks Russian 3) no visas required. 4) lower living costs than Russia.

Again that's all reasonably verifiable by looking at 3rd party data sources like booking.com. The fact the hotels are full doesn't mean there are border queues where yandex maps shows it is green. As mentioned earlier. There is a notorious queue at the Georgian border. If you are headed to Georgia Chris I would consider going via Dagestan - Azerbaijan. Then from Azerbaijan to Georgia to avoid the Georgia -Russia border.

But do also take telegram channels (even Russian ones of how to cross borders), with some degree of a grain of salt. Everyone has a habit of embellishing their own stories and without moderators the truth is easily lost in "war stories" told by those who have done it, telling stories to the wide-eyed noobs. A 2 km queue can easily turn into a 20 km when retold to an easily impressed captive audience. Telegram and Twitter are largely anonymous so the veracity of information is generally very low, especially if the audience is already heavily emotionally engaged.

When I flew Moscow to Bishkek (same date I wrote the previous post) while the internet was awash with all manner of stories (mainly telegram and Twitter based) that turned out to be false such as 40 km queues at the Mongolian border, 35 km queues at the Finnish border etc) so I was surprised to see the aeroplane was in fact not full with 20-30 year old IT guys but actually was pretty normal - businessmen, Kyrgyz families with kids, old babushkas. Hotels in Bishkek however were filling up fast and prices skyrocketing. Cafes in Bishkek were and still are full of ethnic Russian guys on iMacs - I assume many are working remotely.

Also worth noting if anyone is travelling in KG and is put off by the likely expensive and hard to come by hotel vacancies in Bishkek in the present and coming weeks, if you get out of Bishkek and into the hills, there isn't a Russian IT soul around. Even in the tourist town of Karakol it's business as usual, with prices their normal low level and no shortage at all of accommodation. (Again totally verifiable on Booking.com)

Wasn't intending to have a go at you personally. I was noting that there is a LOT of disinformation coming from sources in whose interests it is to spread disinformation therefore everything should be correctly sourced and not proclaimed as fact. It is our interest as a source of travellers information to stick as closely as possible to fact and not to cherry pick and embellish very biased news sources.

For example:
In the comment below you claim it was a "credible" source in the administration, via Medusa, for the claim Russia was about to close its borders.. I would note the following:

1) medusa is an opposition news media aggregator. It is very often not the source of it own stories, nor is it able to fact check them. Further it has a vested interest in promoting stories with a very strong political agenda.
2) medusa as far as I can see never claimed in the article that the source was "credible". They never used that term at all. It merely stated "a source in the administration".
3) the source claimed borders would close after the 4 regional referenda on joining Russia, and in fact named a date - September 28 - for the closing of Russia's borders to men of military age.

Bearing in mind it is now October 10, I put it to you that this source appears to be "not credible" and therefore the whole story (based on this source) is not credible and may very well be a made up non existent source, to justify running a made up story - very common in journalistic practice when pushing an agenda - claim a credible insider deep throat source that has to remain anonymous, and you can get away with creatively writing any made up story.

Again we don't know what will change in the future but as at the date of your post, it was not right to have claimed seemingly definitively that "Russia is preparing to close its borders." (Even more so with the unwritten expectation of Sept 28). I said it at the time and I say it again. It was nothing more than a rumour - at that time and indeed still now a couple of weeks later. Just because a fringe news agency promotes a story doesn't make it true.

I won't go into detail re the other points. It suffice to say that allegations of the existence of secret hidden paragraphs in Russian govt legislation, and what those hidden paragraphs allegedly contain are highly dubious. Especially when those allegations are coming from the Ukrainian govt, which not only has a very strong vested interest in spreading civilian panic and discontent in Russia but has a pretty strong track record for misinformation since February (Ghost of Kyiv etc). Indeed any govt in a conflict has a extremely strong incentive to spread disinformation to the "enemy" population. That's just reality. So stories originating or strongly promoted by opposing sources ... Well that's not credible stuff. That not stuff anyone should be alleging is "fact". It might be "emotionally satisfying" to believe that stuff, but that doesn't make it fact. Stories like that potentially may be true - nothing rules that out - but there is more than enough reasons to be very skeptical and that rules out purporting that it is established fact.

I just think we need to be a lot more critical about what we believe is true and to understand the motives behind each 2nd and 3rd hand source of information we use / refer to. (Lets be clear I dont expect anyone on the HUBB to be a first hand source and personally have access to alleged secret paragraphs in Russian Govt legislation - so talking about it like it is fact is simply not credible) As I noted in my post a few weeks ago, there is LOT of disinformation out there and this thread demonstrates how deeply it penetrates.

Walter
You suggested crossing from Dagestan to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan land and sea borders are closed to all foreigners since Covid started. They still are for entry, today.

I flew Aktau/KZ last Friday night/ Sat morning to Baku/AZ. Delivered bike last Monday to Kuryk/KZ port. It left there on Wednesday, when there was a gap in the wind for ferry to enter/exit the port. It arrived Friday evening at Alat/AZ and I fetched it from the port on Saturday afternoon (the day before yesterday). It was in the same condition and un-tampered with, despite being loaded/unloaded by some burly Azeri docker/ seafarer or two.

I'm in Ganja/AZ (with a name like that, I had to stay here :rofl: ) tonight and crossing AZ/Georgia tomoz. Foreigners (and their vehicles) are allowed out...

Sorry to the pedants (not really :innocent: ) : Nothing in this reply has directly to do with the RUS/UKR situation. Maybe I'll travel to Russia again, or maybe I won't. I have incredibly fond memories of my 2013 western BAM and on to Magadan trip, but riding the Russian/Kazakh/Uzbek Steppe is something I don't ever have/want to do (again). There are too many other far better riding regions in the world, imho.

PS. Shame I missed you in Bishkek. I was there from 7 to 11 September and had to cross from Osh to Uzbekistan in order to be able to do some shifty business to get my bike out, which was between one and two years overtime (depending on if you include the year's extension everyone got beyond the TIP expiry date due to Covid). I wrote an abridged version of what happened on my Facebook. :mchappy: Full description only if plied with piva bier

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacifi...igners/2689055

Russia prepares to ease visa rules for foreigners