Country Guide for Russia

Our General Information series are intended to provide some understanding of aspects of a country which a visitor may encounter and to assist with the adoption of appropriate expectations.

Being brief they are highly selective, and should be amplified with an intelligent guidebook or other publications. They attempt to avoid the cosy upbeat tone of much travel writing and sometimes contain controversial passages. While largely compiled by staff in the MRT office, they are critically appraised by natives of the country and our freelance lecturers.

They are sent to all participants both with the confirmation of booking and again with the final documents about three weeks before the tour.
Status: this edition was revised in September 2009.

Visas
British citizens and most foreign nationals require a visa for Russia, which now currently costs approximately £75 plus a special delivery charge. Individual visas must be obtained from the Russian Consulate by submitting your passport.

For participants resident in the UK we have engaged the services of a visa agent, who submits applications at the Consulate on a daily basis.  This minimises inconvenience and does not place restrictions on when you submit your application.  You will be without your passport for approximately 2 weeks but the process can sometimes take up to one month. (If you need your passport processed quicker than this, it is normally possible by paying an additional processing fee to the visa agent.)

For participants resident abroad, we will presume that you are applying in your country of residence and will send you the necessary paperwork so that you can apply individually.  As procedures vary from country to country, we cannot provide you with information regarding your application.

The relevant forms and full details of the application procedure will be sent with your invoice eleven weeks before departure.
Passports
Your passport must be valid for at least six months beyond the date of departure from Russia.

It is essential that we have your passport details at least four months before the tour. We need this information to start the visa process. If you need to renew your passport, please ensure you do so before this time. The passport details you give us must match the details on the passport you travel on otherwise your visa will not be valid.

You will have to give your passport to the hotel upon arrival. The passport will be ready for collection later that day or the following morning.

It is a legal requirement to carry your passport with you at all times. We would suggest taking photocopies of your passport and visa with you and also a spare passport photograph. It is best to keep these separate from your passport.

Immigration and customs
All visitors have to fill out a Migration card on arrival. These should be distributed by British Airways before landing. ‘Part A’ is handed over to the immigration officer and ‘Part B’ must be kept with your passport throughout your stay and handed over to Immigration on departure. Please ensure you keep this safe. If you do not have it when you leave Russia, you will be fined and your departure from Russia may be delayed. These cards are bilingual (Russian/English) and can be filled out in English. We send a copy of a sample completed migration form with your final documents.

You are allowed to take into the country up to 3,000 US dollars (or equivalent) without declaring it. If you are carrying more than this or anything of great value such as jewellery or expensive electrical items you will need to fill in a customs declaration form. This form must be stamped by a customs official on arrival and produced again when you leave the country.

Weather and clothing
Winter can begin to set in before the end of October and in some years can linger into the beginning of May. But being a continental climate, temperatures rise fast during the short summer, and August and early September can be hot and unpleasantly humid. So if the tour starts in the first half of May or continues until the end of September you will need to take a warm coat, and preferably scarf, gloves and hat. Some days at the end of May can still be quite cool.

However, buildings are always very well heated. It is also regarded as bad manners in museums, concert halls and restaurants to wear coats and these must therefore be left at the cloakrooms provided. There will often be queues for these, which Russians accept without impatience.

Stout, comfortable footwear is essential. Our tours necessitate a lot of walking, and streets and pavements are often uneven and sometimes hazardous. This means that in wet weather there will be puddles. And rain is very likely.

If you enter a private home, you are usually expected to remove outdoor shoes and boots at the door. You might like to consider some sort of slippers or indoor shoes for padding about the hotel.

In Russian Orthodox churches it is customary for women to cover their heads. We would advise you to take a headscarf.

The combination of cold and humidity outside and roaring central heating inside may make you appreciate  taking hand cream and moisturisers.

Winter tours
With weather conditions becoming ever more extreme and variable, statistics such as those given below are increasingly unreliable as a guideline. For a five-day forecast we suggest you consult www.bbc.co.uk/weather/.

December. St Petersburg: temperatures range from an average daily temperatures range from a minimum of -8ºC (18ºF) to a maximum of -3ºC (27ºF). The lowest ever recorded temperature in December is -23ºC (-9ºF) and the highest 5ºC (41ºF).

Full daylight doesn’t arrive until towards 10.00 in the morning and starts fading by 4.00 in the afternoon – even earlier if the day is overcast.

Warm clothing is of course essential and must include a heavy coat and a hat.

Stout, comfortable, non-slip boots are also essential. In the unlikely event that there is no snow and ice, there will certainly be slush and muddy puddles. Moreover, streets and pavements are often uneven and sometimes hazardous.


Money
You will need roubles for most cash transactions. They can now be obtained outside Russia but there are exchange bureaux and ATMs in the larger hotels and throughout St Petersburg and Moscow. The banknotes of hard currencies taken for exchanging must be in mint condition; Scottish notes may not be accepted. Please check www.xe.com for the current exchange rate.

Theoretically, only roubles are legal tender and there are instances where payments must be made in roubles, in hotels for example. However we would also advise taking some euros with you, as these are widely used and can be changed into roubles in Russia. Sterling cash can also be exchanged into roubles in Russia. Try to take at least some notes in small denominations. US dollars are no longer in as much demand. To get round the awkwardness of displaying prices in a forbidden currency, prices are expressed in unspecified units; you might need to clarify verbally whether they are dollars, euros or roubles.

All major credit cards are accepted but travellers' cheques are not.

Health & Safety
A document entitled Health Advice for Travellers (issued by the NHS), which contains more information about medical treatment abroad and staying healthy while travelling, is available online at www.dh.gov.uk/travellers, or from the Post Office.

You should bring with you any medicines you would normally need. Though there are many pharmacists in the cities, supplies can be erratic. Some clients like to take an emergency first-aid kit, including a syringe and needles.

In St Petersburg, tap water should not be drunk. You should even clean your teeth in bottled water. This is provided free of charge by the hotels.

Seatbelts. If coaches are fitted with seatbelts please wear them.

Insurance
We must stress that private travel insurance – with adequate cover for medical treatment, repatriation and cancellation – is a condition of booking with us. Please register any existing medical conditions with your insurance provider.

Standards of medical practice in Russia generally are not high. Foreigners are usually taken to private, foreign-run hospitals which exist in both St Petersburg and Moscow.

Vaccinations
None is mandatory. Please discuss these requirements with your doctor or practice nurse. Advice can change.

Courses or boosters usually advised: hepatitis A; diphtheria; tetanus.

Vaccines sometimes advised: typhoid; tuberculosis; hepatitis B; rabies; tick-borne encephalitis (for visiting forested areas only); Japanese B encephalitis; meningococcal meningitis.

(Source: www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk)

We refer you also to:
• www.nathnac.org National Travel Health Network and Centre
• www.masta-travel-health.com (There is no central number, so details of your nearest clinic would have to be obtained locally or from the website.)
• The London Hospital for Tropical Diseases Travel Health Information line, telephone 020 7950 7799.  To make an appointment at the Travel Clinic call 0207 388 9600.

Language
Few Russians speak English, though some professionals and intelligentsia are remarkably fluent in the language.

We recommend that you familiarise yourself with the Cyrillic alphabet. Visitors are usually surprised how much written Russian they can understand as the language has absorbed many words from other European languages, English and French in particular.

Local guides
It is compulsory to be accompanied throughout the tour by a Russian guide, who has a national qualification. We always request the best available, however conventions of guiding allow for substitution without our prior knowledge.

Some palaces and museums have their own guides who insist on accompanying our visits. This often involves tiresome explanations with laborious translation from our group's guide. Where possible we ask these site guides to accompany but not contribute.

Safety and security
Street crime is a major problem in Russian cities, though not more so than some of the other black spots of Europe. But please be constantly vigilant with wallets, bags and cameras. Valuables not actually required, documents of no use during the tour (e.g. driving licence) and items of sentimental value should be left at home. Do not leave passports, money or other valuables in your hotel room except in the safe.

Up to date Foreign & Commonwealth Office advice is available on the Internet at http://www.fco.gov.uk or on BBC2 Ceefax page 470 onwards. The telephone number of their Travel Advice Unit is: 0870–606 0290, fax 020–7008 0155.

Food
It will be a long time before we run gourmet tours to Russia. Although the restaurant scene is developing fast, the more expensive establishments seem to put more effort into cultivating what is fondly believed to be western-style glamour than in cultivating the palates of their patrons. That said, eating out is becoming a more normal part of tourist and, increasingly, local life, and restaurants are opening to meet that demand.

There are a few generalities to be aware of: service tends to be leisurely if not downright slow. Most restaurants have live music in the evenings. Electric pianos and vocalists dominate, although you may encounter the odd balalaika. Portions tend to be generous, particularly starters. Service is not included and we suggest a tip of around 10% of the bill. Many restaurants publish prices in euros. A number of the ‘top’ places to eat are vast, cavernous spaces and therefore attract tourist buses.

Russian cooking is pretty rich. Sour cream plays a large role in most sauces for casseroles and is often dolloped on top of salads and soups. Beef and pork dominate  though venison is increasingly available. Game and poultry seem to be less common, with the exception of chicken. ‘Chicken Kiev’ is an intricate and laborious dish to prepare and is usually reserved for special occasions. Although not tested by us, we have been assured that it bears no resemblance to the UK variety. Fresh water fish – salmon, trout, perch – are also easily obtained and prepared well.

Russians love to stuff and gratinate. True blinis are plate-sized pancakes wrapped around savoury bits or honey and nuts for pudding. Look out too for galupsi (stuffed cabbage leaves), pelmeni (a soft ravioli) and pirogi (dumplings). They also prepare a mean fondu of gratinated mushrooms with sour cream.

Pickling and marinading are equally popular culinary customs, and practically nothing is excluded from these processes. Cabbage, herrings, mushrooms, onions, either in vinegar or salt and oil, form the basis of many salads and starters. Or you can order a selection of pickled vegetables with a shot of vodka as an aperitif.

Salads can be complex compositions and, unless listed on the menu, do not necessarily involve a lettuce leaf. Vegetarians will need to specify no meat or fish.

Wine. Restaurants now serve French, Italian, Spanish and New World wines, on the whole at astronomical prices, even if an average Chianti. Georgian wines tend to be cheaper and are (we think) very drinkable: Saparevi or Mukuzani reds and Tsinandali or Old Tblisi whites. However, for the best value, drink Russian sparkling.

Table service in restaurants can be very slow. We advise you take this into account for your independent lunches.

Prices
Russia is expensive for the visitor. A range of factors pushes up prices: many of the goods and much of the expertise of western-run hotels has to be imported; the uncertainties and instabilities of recent history have resulted in the desire to travel there being limited to a small minority, and business travellers outnumber tourists; the climate means that for about three summer months hotels are full while they have low occupancy levels for the rest of the year.

Westerners are still widely regarded as rich, and while it may be fair game for institutions like the Hermitage and the Mariinsky to charge high prices to tourists (many times more than to Russians) because of their severe financial problems, there is undeniably a widespread rip-off mentality which places making a fast buck above the provision of customer satisfaction. (An historical explanation – if a rather charitable one – is that even in pre-1917 Russia commerce never acquired the respectability it enjoyed elsewhere in Europe. Merchants were widely regarded as cheats, which seems to licence some modern merchants to fulfil that stereotype.)

While it may be regrettable to have to patronise hotels and restaurants which are international in aspiration (if not always in achievement), the reality is that a Russian-run establishment is likely to be of an unacceptable standard to a sophisticated western traveller.

Hotel bars and mini-bars are very expensive.

Rich and poor in contemporary Russia

Russia is a place of extraordinary contrasts. While the most gloomy forecasts of the 1990s have fortunately not been realised, there remains for all Russians deep uncertainty about the future.

There has undoubtedly been progress on the economic front, though growth has been fitful. Nevertheless, most Russians have a low standard of living and a significant proportion of the population live in real poverty. Coupled with this there are many daily difficulties to contend with. However, a not-so-small minority enjoys considerable riches, as can be seen by the number of smart shops in the cities. The discomforture caused by the contrast is exacerbated – both for residents and visitors – by the vulgarity, not to say sleaze, which often accompanies conspicuous expenditure.

There is no doubt that in many cases these riches have been entirely legitimately acquired, but this is not always the case. The influence of the mafia seems to be waning, and it is being further diluted by the growth of legitimate businesses and institutions, but much routine business and bureaucratic practice would be considered improper in most western countries.

Corruption is not confined to business, and infects local government and, most worryingly, the police. Extortionism is widely practised by police officers, though westerners travelling in a group are not likely to be bothered.

Another point concerns the lust for all things western, or some things western: it distresses the intelligensia and many ordinary Russians (as well as many visitors) that the Russian nouveau riches seem to pick up mainly on the worst of the West.

Bureaucracy and ‘Nyet’
There are many Russians who have plenty of willingness to help, efficiency of execution and energy to implement. Tourists, however, outside the big hotels, still encounter the bloody-mindedness, obstreperousness and complete absence of initiative which is a depressing heritage of the previous regime. It is partly that it is just unthinkable for a lesser functionary to depart from the rules, and partly perhaps that to frustrate the will of another by saying ‘Nyet’ is to achieve some sort of revenge for having had a helpless and miserable life inflicted on them. You will witness many classic cases of situational power.

Patience and meek submission are counselled; very rarely will it prove efficacious to get cross or express impatience.

A heritage of Communism is that bureaucracy is not merely the process by which an action has to be accomplished; it is as much the end as the means.

You will quickly realise that service with a smile is yet to catch on in Russia.

Getting around
Taxis. Should you decide to take a taxi, we would strongly advise organising one through your hotel. It is possible to flag down taxis in the street but many operate without a licence and vehicles tend to be  grubby and old with minimal suspension. Generally the drivers do not speak English.

Traffic. Roads are often very congested or spontaneously closed in Russian cities. A lot of time can be spent sitting in traffic jams, which means that the itinerary may have to change at short notice.

Miscellaneous Information
Electricity:  Russia uses 220 V, AC at 50 cycles/second (as in the UK). Sockets take standard Continental round two-pin plugs.

Shops are generally open Monday to Friday from 10–21 and 10–19 on Saturdays and Sundays.

Banks are generally open Monday to Friday, 9–18 and some open on Saturdays, 9–17. Exchange bureaux are open daily, and offer more favourable rates than hotels.

Museums are strict about how much you take into the galleries. You may have to hand coats and large bags in at the cloakroom.  This can be time-consuming and, combined with the process of obtaining photograph permits, means there is often hanging around in the lobby before and after museum visits.

Dialling code: to make an international phone-call from Russia, dial 810, followed by the usual code for the country (44 for the UK, for example). To phone within Russia, dial 8 at the beginning of the phone number. The dialling code when making a call to Russia is 007.