For what's it worth, I've been listening to Russian radio over the internet the last few days. The station (located in Moscow) has been having listeners call in to say if they have any loved ones in Ukraine, etc. Many people called in, many with either relatives in Ukraine or serving in the Russian army in Ukraine. Many of the callers were near tears...people are NOT happy about this war. The words "criminal," "irrational," and "unjustified" came up a lot.

If you go to Russia in the near future I think you're more likely to have locals apologize to you for their country's shameful conduct than harass you.

I have no knowledge the add to this debate, but thanks for sharing this. Helpful (and hopeful) to know.

I have never been to Russia. Although I have met quite a lot of Russians in far reaches of the globe. However, I have never met a Russian in the U.K where I live. Weird! I have always found them to be polite, funny and intelligent.

I have no fear of Russian people. Nor have I ever had fear of local people anywhere in the world. It's only the politicians and those commanded by them that I have ever been wary of.

Luckily I am not hearing any anti-Russian sentiment anywhere. Just anti-Putin. Everyone knows that the Russian people are already suffering under a dictatorship.

Going back to the original point of the thread, as the days go on and sanctions get harder it seems that Russia is becoming even more of a Pariah state. Cut off and disconnected from the world. As long as Putin is in command and also as an autocratic regime, it will only be a revolution or assassination that can remove him.

And then what ? History has taught us that whenever a dictator is removed, anarchy ensues. Power struggles, terrorism etc. It would surely get worse before It got better.

Like Chris correctly states, Russia has always worked on reciprocity when it comes to Visas. Considering the west is cutting Russia off on every front, I personally believe that it will be a long time before British, US and EU tourists are being issued Visas by the Kremlin. But Business Visas could be different ? It's the multiple entry business visa that most Overlanders need to cross East I believe.

I really do hope I'm wrong. For everyone's sake.

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

At the moment I would no more dream of going to Moscow on business than Pyongyang. For one you can't get paid. You also have PR problems in markets massively larger than Russia (their Economy is the size of Spain). You won't get travel insurance unless part of a diplomatic mission of some sort and corporate lawyers don't like that risk.

You feel for the ordinary people but there is no other way yet thought of to sort out nutters like Putin. I certainly aren't putting any priority on my holiday plans having to change.

How long this lasts for is totally unknown but to me is likely to be years. If Putin decides to completely U-turn and leave office tomorrow everyone will just think its a ploy, so even an unimaginably positive outcome still results in controls in place for months/years. Endless Cold War with Putin in power or a nasty internal struggle to get rid seems more likely. That or he pushes the button.

Andy

UK Foreign Offiice now advises against all travel to Russia quoting "the lack of available flight options to return to the UK, and the increased volatility in the Russian economy."

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

I don't pay any attention to FCO travel advice, but that is a lot of red!

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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.

You may not. But your travel insurance company certainly does.

I personally know two people who have had to be rescued from Russia after accidents with broken bones. One of them nearly bankrupted the insurance company.

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

LOL, and yet somehow they managed to leave off Belarus and Ukraine...

I think the colouring in is just to show all those untalented at geography, where Russia actually is. It must have taken several UK civil servants many hours of intense crayoning

An aside: why would anyone want to fly back to today's UK? (I've a UK passport, but live elsewhere...). I flew back in January this year after a couple of years outside those islands and the only thing I missed when I left again were friends and proper . (Sorry, this second paragraph is )

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