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  ) tonight and crossing AZ/Georgia tomoz. Foreigners (and their vehicles) are allowed out...
Sorry to the pedants (not really  ) : 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.  Full description only if plied with piva
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