What are some best practices for cleaning your phone before entry to Russia? I heard taking in a burner phone isn’t a good idea because they will question why it’s empty/new. Plus my phone has a great camera and it would be a shame not to bring it.
I hear they especially like to question US citizens at the border. I have zero opinion on the war and zero ties to Ukraine. I barely use Telegram and I’m not in any questionable groups. My whatsapp has some groups where people mention Ukraine but I don’t even remember in what context. Certainly not the main topic of those groups. I was thinking of maybe deleting that whatsapp and creating a new account with a different phone number. I was also thinking of removing all social media. Again, I have nothing to hide, but what if one of my connections was particularly vocal (I’m not aware of any, but I don’t see everyone’s posts) and I didn’t know about it?
From personal experience, I can confirm that they heavily scrutinize US citizens who have visited Ukraine.
During my first entry at Ivangorod, I was held for several hours, fingerprinted, photographed, and interrogated by multiple officials in Russian. They also inspected my phone, though they didn’t dig into specific chats or messages. Interestingly, my second entry at DME was much smoother with no phone inspection at all. I’ll be entering through LED soon, so we’ll see how the third time goes!
@traveladdict I wouldn’t worry about it. As I always say; unless youre doing something illegal its pointless to be concerned. If you want to, just uninstall any apps you wouldn’t want seen. Re-install them later.
I’ve entered and exited Russia from various land and air borders many times in the past couple years as a US citizen. Never had my phone taken for a search. You might be taken to a secondary interview room but its routine and not likely to be about you rather than you meet a variable in their procedures.
Nonetheless, being open and honest and not doing anything illegal isn’t hard. You have a bigger risk of being denied entry (or arrested and jailed) for your online opinions in the UK than in Russia.
@NomadicHedgie do you speak Russian? I’d hate to be interrogated in a language I don’t know I have never visited Ukraine. I have no ties to Ukraine at all.
@traveladdict My Russian is a low B2 level. There was a junior FSB agent that spoke broken English and they had translation apps, so I probably would have gotten through it somehow if I didn’t speak Russian.
A clean phone is more likely to arouse suspicion more than anything. “What are they trying to hide”. Bring a normal used phone. If you have potential incriminating/ classified / “top secret” business proposals etcetera. Get new phone, use it in a “normal” sense for awhile before entering if you are sketched out that they are going to go through your phone.
@KO11 You might be taken to a secondary interview room but its routine and not likely to be about you rather than you meet a variable in their procedures.
depending the time and place, interview in a room can be mandatory. It has often been the case a Kunichina Gora border point after Koidula in Estonia, by Pechory, on the way to Pskov.
There all travelers, by regular bus route, by car, on their own, whatever, have been taken to interview. Hence the damn long queue sometimes.
there is also these days since 01.2025 and the unified visa, mandatory interview to all non-belarusians and non-russians at the crossing points Belarus-Russia by road. Can be whatever from quick superficial to deeper questionings and often quick fingerprinting and photography with their mobile device.
@NorseVictory I don’t have anything that is incriminating or top secret but I dunno what they will be looking for. I am in some whatsapp group chats where Ukraine is mentioned, but I wasn’t a part of those discussions.
@antoniob I will be entering via Moscow. But after about a week, I will go to Belarus for a few days. When I come back (I haven’t decided if by train or by flight), would I be questioned?
Did i already read that question on Reddit?
I fly to Moscow several times, from Italy, with two citizenship… for now, nobody asked me to show my phone.
But, based on the other replies, it makes sense that they’d investigate whether you’ve been to Ukraine.
@traveladdict You are overthinking this. Again, if you are not doing anything illegal, and you are honest with them, then dont worry about it. Or dont go to Russia. It’s pretty simple. No one can tell if you will, or will not, be questioned.
@traveladdict
My son and I, US citizens with new passports flew in/out of St Petersburg through Istanbul. Passport control in Petersburg took less than 30 minutes. 20 min of which was standing in line. 5 min up at the guard window.
All they asked was purpose of trip and where I was coming from. I was not interrogated in a separate room. Our phones were not looked at or asked for. At customs we were asked how much cash we were carrying, our baggage was run through an x-ray machine, and we were waved right through.
As a precaution, we did temporarily delete US social media apps and I had my VPN turned off. My son temporarily deleted his Telegram account to protect any of his Russian connections, just in case. (Keep in mind that individuals do not get in trouble for a VPN on their phone, it is the VPN company that gets in trouble with the a Russian govt.)
I would do these as a precaution if travelling to Russia as well. I absolutely would NOT go with a brand new phone. It would definitely arise suspicion. We have zero connections to Ukraine and none of our contacts have Ukrainian connections.
MPA
@marcelapa10 I was also able to enter through St. Petersburg without any issues. But the guy in line in front of me was pulled into a room for interrogation.
I was heavily scrutinised crossing from Lithuania into Kaliningrad by foot last year - I think the whole shakedown lasted about 90 minutes. A local I met at the train station said that it’s typical as it’s not a frequently used border and I’ve never been to Russia before. He said after that, further entries should be easy. Not sure if it’s a coincidence but I was bracing for the same thing when I landed in St Petersburg several weeks ago. Took no more than 10 minutes of waiting and 3 minutes of processing and I was sent through on my way without barely a word this time.
I did see multiple people being pulled from the queue for more questioning.
@traveladdict Bonjour, je suis rentré en Russie plusieurs fois depuis 2023, toujours en véhicule. Frontière géorgienne, puis Kazakhstan puis norvégienne puis Bielorussie. Et plusieurs fois, j’ai été interrogé. En Norvège, c’était ma femme qui est russe qui a été interrogé et ils ont fouillé son téléphone, pas le mien, c’était la seule fois pour elle, je suis français. Et pour moi toutes les autres frontières, ils relevaient mon code IMEI . Au Kazakhstan, ils ont bloqués ma géolocalisation pour pouvoir suivre mes déplacements et je ne peux plus changer ce réglage. Et la dernière fois, c’était en Crimée ou on habite, nous sommes passés par Marioupol, pour éviter le pont, et la pareil, même pire, ils ont bloqués mon adresse IP. Je trouve cela un peu ridicule, n’ayant absolument rien à me reprocher. Mais bon, mon nom de famille est le même qu’un grand compositeur allemand, qui a comme prénom Richard.
I have never visited Ukraine. I have no ties to Ukraine at all.