Way to Russia Talk Lounge

chrisrein · Frequent Guest Joined: 19 Nov 2006 Posts: 25

Dear All,

finally I have found some time to travel to Russia again.
This time I want to drive via Ukraine towards Russia.

Does anyone have advice on which border crossing to take? I want to drive from Kiev towards Orël/Moscow, are there difficulties at the border, or very long queues?

Thanking you in advance for all your information!

Regards,
Christian

DITTRICH · Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:28 pm Post subject:

Sorry Chris,
I've not gone that way yet.
This year I'm off to Sweden and Norway.
Have a great trip,
Les

chrisrein · Frequent Guest Joined: 19 Nov 2006 Posts: 25

For all interested in driving to Russia via Ukraine:

Regarding the border crossing by car Ukraine - Russia:

the road from Kiev towards the northeastern Ukraine is almost completely new and in very good condition.... exept for the last 20 kilometers where the road is not there yet and you have to find another road (through dirtroads etc.) But when you arrive at the border it is not busy....
We took the bordercrossing at the M02 / E101 towards Orël in Russia. On a tuesday evening (around 19.00 hours) it took us 45 minutes to pass the Ukrainian customs and 1.5 hours for the russian part. No problems at all, despite our tourist visum that stated that we would be flying towards Moscow and stay in Moscow for three weeks....
Our car was allowed to stay in Russia for 14 days, I think not longer because I had to cross the box 'Transit' and 'Enter' at the declaration form. The first 100 kilometres of road in Russia where not that great (A142), the M2 is much better (and busier).

Leaving Russia: We were at the Latvian border at Zilupe around 16.00 hours and in 25!!! minutes we were already in the European Union. Incredible!?

When leaving the country we hoped that some of the hotels we had been would have registered us (we were also some nights at private places), and we did not have any difficulties at all at the border. Is it really necessary to stay in a hotel at all for a registration? We did not receive any stamps at the migration form, and were stopped by the police twice (one regular check, once for speeding, which we paid with some roubles) and the police never requested for any kind of registration information. All the were interested in was our Permit for the car to drive in Russia.

In the end it is about 2800 kilometres from Holland to Moscow via Kiev, and 2600 via Zilupe, and the roads in Ukraine are not bad in general.

DITTRICH · Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 3:42 pm Post subject:

Excellent report!
Les