Current situation Russia/Ukraine borders
 

Has anyone traveled into Russia from Ukraine (or vice versa) recently. I am looking to go for a northern border crossing, but can only find reviews from 2015 on the HUBB. Any help appreciated.

Hello al_baylis,

last Saturday we crossed the border between Sumy(UKR) and Kursk(RUS) with our car. As long as you have all the documents with you, it shouldn't be a problem. Since I did not have my russian visa, they didn't want to let me cross the border even though I am from a visa waiver country. After some phone calls and paper work, I managed to get into Russia. It just took me four and half hours. :)

Cheers,

Just do not try to cross south from Kharkiv.

Hello,

I plan to cross the border from Ukraine to Russia next week, at Soumy. Is it quick ? Or is there a better place to cross i Ukraine ?
If somebody has recently cross this border, I welcome all advice :)

One question : I have in my luggages a little expandable baton, and a OC gas spray. Are these items susceptible to create problems with the guards if my package is checked ?

Jil

I crossed from Ukraine to Russia at Sumy - but it is almost two years ago. A bit time consuming as I had to unpack panniers and dry bags several times. And a good bit of paperwork to be done. But I guess that would be the same at any border. Not much traffic on a sunday morning at least.

About your items - Im sorry I dont know. I carried a bit of medicines as I was the unofficial medic in our group and got several questions about those medicines - but in the end I got through.

I was there a month ago.

Went through in 2 hours with motorbike, with a car probably many hours more as queue was quite long on both sides and they were really slow on getting people through.

Hello

I passed the borders in 2 points in the past 3 weeks : Ukraine-Russia near Sumy, and back Russia-Ukraine near Kharkiv (don't go more south as it will be a conflict area).
In both cases no problems, just be prepared to open all your luggages with russian guards,
And when entering in Russia you must be deliverd a document for temporary import of your motorbike (tax free), in my case a russian guard speaking english (not very common !) helped me to fill it. Then keep it preciously with you, it will be requested when you will leave Russia.

Jil

I came from Russia to Ukraine 3 days ago on the E101/E391 from Zheleznogorsk (There's no town at the border). There was a LONG line of cars to go out of Russia but a couple of people told me that I could go to the head of the line with the bike. Sometimes that can piss people off, but nobody seemed to mind and the guards motioned me through to immigration. All cars from Russia were being THOROUGHLY searched. However, no problems other than the usual inefficiency. Total crossing time two hours.

The line from Ukraine into Russia was not nearly as long as on the Russian side. When going into Russia try to get the customs forms (you need TWO copies!) while you are waiting in line. They take a while to fill out. Also, make sure to put the stated value of the bike in rubles... any errors and you will have to do the forms all over again. KEEP THE FORM. You will need it to exit Russia.