I recently travelled for 6 weeks through the Russian Caucasus region and would like to share some information about how to set yourself up for such a journey and how to organise things on the way. For those of you interested in where I went and what I saw, have a look at my posts in VK (first in September: https://vk.ru/wall1030522562).
For such a long period, my most important concern was mobile internet. Knowing that most WIFIs in restaurants or other public spaces work only with a Russian phone number, that means getting a local SIM card. That involves getting fully registered in Gosuslugu. The process for that registration has been described in many posts here, so I’ll simply write what I did. Hopefully it helps others.
I entered the country via Sochi, so I contacted a translation bureau beforehand and made an appointment for the notarised translation of my passport. This bureau told me that on the date of the notarisation I needed to be in the country. I didn’t find any law for that, but given they should know best, the notarisation was done on my first day in Russia. Then the translator sent me to the “Social Fund of Russia” to get my SNILS from there instead of MFC (Gosuslugu). A “Social Fund of Russia” branch should be in any town, same as MFC, and you can find them simply by looking them up in Yandex Maps. And indeed, within 5 minutes, basically at the information desk, I got my SNILS. Which is also almost immediately visible for Gosuslugu.
So the next stop was MFC, where I got my Gosuslugu account based on this SNILS. One important note: I had registered beforehand in Gosuslugu, just with my data and a Russian email address. I thought that would help somehow. But it didn’t. It has been more of a hindrance than a help, because they had to link this “old” account to the SNILS. Which in the end didn’t work at all! So instead now I have 2 Gosuslugu entries and only the SNILS-based one works. But what you should do before entering Russia: install the Gosuslugu app. Once everything is linked, login to the web side works through this app.
After that I went to SBER Bank for biometrics and also a bank account. Don’t let them talk you into a mobile contract from SBER Bank. It is more expensive and, given later information, also useless. Once biometrics are added to the Gosuslugu account (identified by the SNILS), you can go to the mobile provider of your choice and get the Russian SIM card with mobile tariff. Note: My SIM came from MTS, because it has the best performance in the region of my travels. What I did not know: MTS, together with other providers, made a proposal to the government that SIM cards for foreigners should be restricted to the duration of their visa. And although this is not (yet?) law, they seem to implement this restriction. So my Russian phone number has been restricted to the 90-day visa. I have no idea whether other providers implement the same policy. Anyway, since I now have all the paperwork done, it should be easy to get a new number next time I’m in Russia.
The last step was getting back to SBER Bank to add the phone number to the bank account and install the mobile app. This installation is only possible in a SBER Bank branch, at least for iPhones. And this app is necessary if you want to use the fast payment system (see below).
If you manage to do all the steps within business hours, the whole process should take you just one day!
Now, all set, I could start my 6 weeks of travel without worrying about “being lost.” And through the whole journey, Yandex Maps and Yandex Translate have been the most helpful. Download offline maps and languages just to be sure. But even in times when mobile internet has been restricted, due to warnings about imminent drone attacks for example, Yandex services are on a white list and mostly work fine.
That said, I only want to add some further notes on some aspects that might help others while travelling in Russia.
Registration
As long as you stay in hotels, that should not concern you. Just ask for it while checking in. I booked all my hotels via onetwotrip (https://www.onetwotrip.com/), which has the charm that you can pay with a western credit card even while in Russia. Just set another currency than rouble for the payment and it should work fine. They are also quite helpful if you have problems with a hotel. Another matter is staying in private accommodations. For that you can also use onetwotrip or use sutochno (https://sutochno.com/), which is sometimes a bit cheaper. Hosts of these accommodations usually don’t offer registration. That should be no problem as long as you stay less than 7 working days in one location. At least that seems to be the law. But as long as bureaucrats reign, you never know. And one of my private hosts, which offered registration, has been threatened by local authorities with fines for me once I leave the country. If such a thing happens, you can check if there really is a fine. Use one of the links below and check with your birthdate and passport. And in case there is, just pay before leaving the country. I did not have a fine to pay so I can’t tell if there are any other consequences.
Linked resources:
https://mbd.pfp/rkl and https://gosuslugi.ru/655781/1/form? _= 1739004601525
Payment
This topic has loads of posts in this forum and guide, so I only want to add some personal experiences. I had a Russian bank card (YooMoney) before the journey so didn’t have to worry about that. But for the fast payment system, where you can basically pay to a phone number, YooMoney is not enough. You need another bank account, for example SBER Bank. And since in many regions where I travelled payment by card is most of the time not possible (bad or restricted mobile internet), they rely on this fast payment system. You just get a phone number and pay via bank app (for example SBER). My guess is this service is also on the white list of services that work even while the mobile internet is restricted.
Otherwise make sure you always have cash for the day.
Travel
My plan was to travel with public transport as often as possible. And it worked out pretty well. For intercity routes I used https://www.tutu.ru/ and for regional https://rasp.yandex.ru/. Some bus stations also offer websites with timetables. And in my experience even intercity Marshrutkas are nowadays quite reliable.
So far so good. I hope you find some useful information in this post. If something is missing or not quite clear, just ask.