Stuck in Russia
 

All help appreciated. I entered Russia from Mongolia with a bike about 4 days ago. The bike is registared in the UK and I have a UK passport. I now want to dump the bike or give it away, it is only a C90 so don't get excited and fly out back to the uk. I have been told by other travellers that if I try to leave the bike and fly out I will be stopped at the airport.

Does anyone know if this is true? is it is any legal seggestions for getting out quickley? and what paperwork do I need.

Thanks for the help.

Well not sure where you have heard that ... we have been saying on here about 100 times that you will not be stopped if you leave Russia without your vehicle. You will have no problem leaving Russia.

You may have problems if you come back to Russia in future, either getting a visa, or being stopped by customs next time you are in Russia and asked to pay the import duty on the bike that they linked to your name / passport but for which they have no outbound paperwork.

Russia now stops people at the border if you are owing the state money (including parking fines). You will not be owing the state money (import tax) for the next 3 months (you currently have a temporary import permit) plus however long it takes customs to issue a penalty and for a court to approve whatever fine and or tax is payable on your bike according to customs.

Why are so many people these days trying to dump vehicles that they have been granted temporary import papers for? I hope that was not the plan all along? It is kinda conditional that if you bring a vehicle in and do not pay tax on it, then you have to take it out. Thats kinda the deal. The country agrees to let you bring your vehicle in without charging you import tax, because you are promising that you are not importing the vehicle. i.e. that you will take it out. If you dont take it out, then you either have to pay import tax on it or get paperwork from Police and Customs that the bike has been destroyed and therefore no tax is payable.

You can probably get paperwork saying the bike has been destroyed, if you go to the nearest customs office and ask if they have an approved crusher - or if the local customs chief wants a C90.

Colebatch is 100% correct, you will not be stopped when you try to leave. I have left with a bike here many many times with no problem.

As he points out, you might have a hard time coming back here. You might try selling it for 1 ruble, get a notarized agreement, maybe it will help in future.

We had a friend who left without his bike then returned to russia some months later. He then rode the bike back out a land border, no problems at any point.

Thanks for the quick replies. I had allowed 2 months to ride across Mongolia and Russia and have bitten off more than I can chew. Half my time is used up and only a quarter on the mileage done. Already been to the police and they where not interested. I will try customs because I would like to be able to come back. Happy to pay the import tax to make it all legal. I am also trying to get on the trains siberiaht railway to cut down the milage.

Hi Walter, it was never my intention to leave it here. Last year did 7500 miles on the DRZ no problem, but what seemed like a good idea was not! Travelling at C90 speed is slow and you are constantly being buffered. I was ok in Mongolia with less traffic. Just looking for a way to finish the trip in an ethical way. So I can come back again on a more realistic bike.

Check with customs. One option if you are planning to come back for it is to leave it in a customs compound.

I had to do that once when I travelled by moto in Turkey and had to fly out of the country for a week. (Unlike Russia, Turkey doesn't let you leave without your temp import vehicle unless its in a customs compound)

Another thought re dumping the bike ... there is a kind of "customs zone" for vehicle abandonment in the no mans land at the Russian Mongolian border at Altanbulag where cars have a tendency to get "dropped off" ... By leaving the bike in no mans land, you get your Russian vehicle exit paperwork. If you are already in Russia maybe the easiest way would be to fully enter Mongolia with the bike (thus getting Russian exit paperwork). Have lunch there then exit Mongolia with the bike, leave the bike in no mans land (so that the bike is effectively neither in Mongolia or Russia, and the bike has exited each country the bike entered) then walk thru to the Russian border, get stamped in personally and hitch (or bus) back to Ulan Ude.

Two weeks ago I have left my Yamaha XT660Z in Barnaul, and take a plane to my country, with no problems at all. On september I have planed to send the bike to Poland and pick up there.

Hope you will find this info useful...

Good luck

Haha Jan, I just saw your bike today at Andrei's place... still there but it has been "russiefied"... :helpsmilie:

Back on topic: I need to give some extra info about leaving a bike in Russia: It IS possible that customs of your country will give you a call or pay you a visit after some months have passed if you don't have the paperwork that your bike is out of the Russian Customs Zone (Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan).

A dutch couple had this problem and luckely they still had the paper stamped upon exit at home so they could prove that the fault was somewhere in the Russian administration. It will all depend if your country has an customs agreement with another country (ie. Russia).

Putting you C90 on the transsib is a piece of cake, look at the post I just made about it.

Just an update to finish the tale. After two days of effort got the C90 shipped to Moscow from Novosibirsk. So i can know just ride it the rest of the way. Thanks for the advice.

:thumbup1:

I am a friend of Jan... What do you mean by russified? I got robbed on the road to Vanino... is that it? I hope not!

Did you stop to help someone?

Long story short:
I had a puncture too big to fix with repair kit and it was getting dark.
I had to take the wheel out and get a lift to the only café in the road where there is a small tyre workshop. But they did not fix it that night. So I had to spend the night there. The next morning I found the bike with a missing pannier and the other two forced and empty.
It was not a good idea to leave all that stuff there, but I took all I could with me (important stuff, computer, camera, documentation, gps...).
I did not have a chance.
Shit happens.
I am now in Japan and the bike is getting some small fixes that was needing since Mongolia and I am also getting a new pannier.
Cheers!