Ukraine - Russian Border | Customs and Immigration

Easy crossing. Russia side took some time. Car import document from kyrgystan added some waiting time, but no problems. Friendly people. Ukraine side very easy. Just some waiting for document processing and no car check at all. Took us 1.5 hours in total.

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RUS -> UKR

short version: Russian side usually 1 hour, unfriendly guards. Ukraine side friendly guards and took 1 hour. Nothing to pay.

We did not receive a "vehicle registration paper" for our car when we entered Russia from Kazakhstan. They need this if you want to leave. At first we had to drive all the way back to Aqtobe (900km away) to get it.

I asked around for bribes and eventually the general was willing. It took us €35,- to solve the issue. Very grumpy people, all of them. But it is straightforward.

Ukraine side was very friendly with smiles and English jokes. A guard forgot to put a stamp on our paper so we asked around for a long time before someone realized he had forgotten. Two guards wanted a present but we refused for a few minutes and then we could leave.

Our process with bribing took 4 hours, normal process around 2.

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Ukraine-Russia - took 5 and a half hours. Massive backlog queue in no mans land after we came out of Ukraine side which seemed to be why it took so long. We didn’t take much longer than the Ukrainians in the queue around us. Everyone friendly, and no requests for bribes. Just a friendly Ukrainian guard who collected coins and was disappointed that we didn’t have any British coins to show him. Russian customs slightly confusing - you have to get two different customs forms. They have English copies in their office if you ask. The “passenger customs declaration” is filled out by the owner of the vehicle and two identical copies are needed. Other passengers in the car do not need to complete this. Photo of form uploaded. For those that cannot see photo - section 3.1 tick “no” and leave blank. Initially we filled in how much foreign currency we have, but they told us to do another one and leave it blank. Section 3.3 put the chassis no. in the section that says “body no. or identification number” and leave the section that says “chassis no.” blank. Again this was told to us by the guards after we had done it ‘wrong’. Everything else straightforward, just a long and boring wait!

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Russia -> Ukraine. Russian side ridiculously kind and friendly. Ukraine side less so, but easy.

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Insurance can be bought after clearing the border.

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Crossing from Russia to Ukraine took 2 hours. Officers on both sides were correct and friendly. Nothing to pay. Car check normal, not too detailed.

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Took 8.5 hrs to cross. Ukraine side was easy with no queue and we cleared them in 1.5hrs. Russian side were all very very friendly but were insistent on a "present" that we did not want to give so they made us wait and wait.

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Ukraine to Russia. Took 1.5 hours. 5 minutes checking the Camper inside. VERY polite and friendly Russian officers. Russian VISA obligatory! No Problem at all. Lot of paperwork. Car insurance was not checked at all.

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