Of course it's a luxury.

But when was the last time you went on hunger strike because a child starved in Africa ?

I'm going to guess never. And neither have I.

no, this is not luxury at all, this is normal people right to travel all over the world freely.

Pure Whataboutism...

It is a guilty thought, but we are human.

I can relate with wishing I did a Russia trip 5 years ago also.

Hopefully Russia gets an overhaul in their government soon. The sham of a democracy that they were leapfrogged into was one of the many failures of the Reagan/ Thatcher governments.

Russia has never had the democratic tradition that we in the west see as normal. They went from centuries of serfdom under the Tsars to decades of repression under the USSR to a deeply conservative and corrupt neoliberal economy under the current regime. The public mood is nationalistic and the more the west pushes Russia away the more it will retreat into itself. If anything the current crisis is likely to make Putin more secure, not less. Countries in wartime tend to rally round a leader seen as strong - see Bush, Thatcher, even Johnson is trying for the halo effect. And remember in many countries the people only respect strong rulers - anything else is a sign of weakness and invites a challenge.

At the end of the day the question in the OP is valid, how will Russian people at home see us as travellers? Mostly not badly, I feel, but if the conflict escalates that could change.

Democratic tradition? :rofl: look what happened thanks to that stupid democratic tradition to Western World - it's falling!

Churchill was correct.

I'll take even Boris over a steroid addicted nutter like Putin. (Even the KGB decided not to lem him go further than East Germany in case he did something embarrassing). What comes after Putin, especially if US manufacturing and Ukrainian fortitude breaks Russias economy before they end the war, could be much worse.

Andy

Churchill on Russia: "It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma."

but Enigma was cracked by mathematicians from Poland. :thumbup1:

Having travelled in politically 'enemy' countries like Iran (on a UK passport), or countries where the UK has forces in active combat such as Afghanistan, and from many years of travelling all over Russia and the Former USSR, I really don't think you have anything to worry about from the people in general.

If you are talking about the Russian authorities, they have never much welcomed tourists and that's one of the major attractions in Russia in my opinion. It's sufficiently 'difficult' (i.e. no Ryanair flight and visa free entry) to keep the trash of mass tourism out. Maybe I've missed something specific to UK passport holders, but I believe the visa issuing process goes on as usual. That seems to be the case for EU-Schengen nationals at least.

A very credible member of this forum has posted that Russian land borders are now open.

Perhaps the question is one of making the effort to visit, rather than finding reasons not to?

EO

So here's one to ponder for UK passport holders:
If the two Brits facing execution in the Donbass are actually executed, would you go?

My question was very much about the authorities. Getting a Russian 'Business visa' was pretty much the only option for people who wanted long term multiple entry visas. Which are needed if you want to ride all the way east. And pre-conflict, it was already difficult.


I agree. People are people. Wherever you go in the World.

Facts can be a real 'nuisance' to forum posts...
 

Alan Turing, born June 23rd 1912 in London, England & died onJune 7th 1954 in Wilmslow, Cheshire cracked the enigma code mainly thanks to the universal Turing machine he invented arguably the forerunner to the modern computer.
You really must lay off those mushrooms Tremens... and stop torturing innocent electrons.

Tremens was quite right - the Polish code breakers were the first to break the first versions of the Enigma machines and Turing built on their knowledge. This was done in 1932.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine

Never indeed. But then, I have also not given my travel money to the government of an African country that starves its own or its neighbors' children...