Yeah I saw news. To be expected suppose; they recognized donbas republics then gave 24hr to ukrainian side to stop shelling civilians. I guess next would be involving UN article 50.

As for no nato citizen will be safe for some time, what do you mean? Are they gonna bomb NATO capitals? They won't stop until they reach brussels??

At first it means you as passport holder from a Nato country should not enter Russia. Unless you tend to be a real adventurer or a stupid hazard seeker. At second we will recognize early enough how and with what kinds of effects the political climate in the next weeks will change.

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This thread is "Will travel be possible for NATO citizens?". The invasion of Ukraine started last night. There is a war in the Ukraine, not in Brussels. Russia will probably not attack any NATO country. However, if you are a NATO citizen do NOT try to enter Russia or Ukraine, this is not a safe time for you in either country. You will be subject to a lot of questioning, possible "detention" until your status is determined, possible injury from local police or private citizens. Bank accounts, credit cards, foreign currency may be difficult to use until this is all cleared up. Do you want to prove you are not a NATO or Russian spy? It will not be a fun day. Ride safe.

This is way overblown. I lived in Moscow for 15 years, and have been there twice in the last 6 weeks. I seriously doubt that the average traveler will be interrogated, detained, or "injured by local police or private citizens."

That said, now is obviously not the best time to go to Russia, if for no other reason because of covid and potential issues with payments, etc. I'd already put off a 2022 launch for a trip planned since 2020 because of covid, but right now am not sure when or if I'll return to Russia--not because I think I'll be detained, but because I don't especially want to go there any more...

Can you really see a Nato citizen getting a Russian Visa now ? If not a NATO ban, certainly a ban from US and UK after the sanctions being drawn today.

Even if you could, Ukraine and Russia are now going to be on the Government red lists for the foreseeable future. So there goes any travel insurance you may require.

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Let's hope that remains the smallest problem, czar Putin has just threatend the world with nuklear war if anyone dares to face him in his invasion of Ukraine.

Our only hope is that the russians deal with that problem (czar Putin) themself.

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My RTW:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrXt660ztenere

Yes, I can see getting a Russian visa, at least for now. And no, I don't see a ban from the US at least for citizens visiting Russia, again unless things change. Can't speak for the UK, don't know.

Not sure what kind of insurance you have in mind, but you should be able to get Russian insurance for Russia. Perfect? No. Better than nothing? I would guess yes.

seriously?

It seems pretty serious to me.

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Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250

Sounds serious to me. No telling where this is going to go.

I don't swim in floodwaters and I don't travel where there are wars going on.

.........shu

We have a range of viewpoints from rational assessment (potential sanctions complicating travel) to near hysterical blather (complete with capitals) on the issue.

What we don't have is any evidence. Looking at waytorussia.net, a great source of visa info, I don't see any updates. We have to wait and see.

But, in 2003 when Bush and his lackey Blair and a few others launched a similar invasion of Iraq on spurious grounds of national security, backed up with total lies, opposed my many decent members of the population, did it become dangerous for Iraqis to travel in the West? I don't think so.

When this current war started in 2014 (I remember it clearly as I was about to drive through Luhansk Region into Russia), did it become dangerous for Westerners to visit Russia? Absolutely not. I crossed from Sumy into Russia, skirting the war zone to the north, and never heard anything about it.

Sure, this time is different. It may become very difficult to travel in Russia. It may be that visas are very hard to come by. But people are thinking in too narrow terms. Remember there are probably tens, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Russians living in the West who have NATO passports and regularly visit Russia to see relatives. That's a strong political lobby. But the idea that you will be at risk simply being in Russia is groundless paranoia. The idea that Russian people will suddenly change from being deeply hospitable to aggressive towards foreginers is pretty offensive, and ludicrous.

There are tens of thousands of Ukrainians living in Russia - have there been any reports of official harassment? Any reports of Westerners being harassed in Russia? Even the Western journalists based there?

EO

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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.

Thank you for your sane, reasoned and sober view EO. It'd be great if this thread remained something useful in terms of *factual* information sharing about travel in Russia/Ukraine, rather than the hot air found on much of social and mainstream media.

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TBS.com

Well, Russia has even imprisoned most of their native opposition.

And yes, they have been harassing Ukrainians, especially those on Crimea and in the Donbas and Lushenk area who did not want to submit. Hell, they are even harrassing Georgians in Georgia beyond the line of control in South Ossetia (which they are constantly pushing further into Georgia).

They have closed down the German TV office in Moscow and taken the accreditation of all those journalists. They have been closing office of international and local NGOs

So yeah - I would say that there are plenty of reports of harassment going on.

Cheers,
Benjamin

It has started today - Plan Anaconda. The Moscow police are stopping all cars with Ukrainian plates.

Russia is a huge country, you can enter from Finland, the Baltic states and Georgia without traveling where there is a war going on.