Possible payment issue with travel insurance sold by Ingos / Solidarity, referred by Irena with a small rebate here:
I was to buy a policy but payment was rejected. This page tailored for foreign tourists takes payment on a Belarusian bank. You can check with your banks those who work still with Belarus. I used my card with Nordea Norge and got declined, and I recalled that Nordea (all countries) cut off with Belarus. I could have used my DNB card but just paid with my Tinkoff.
There are other options in case you have no bank working with Belarus. For instance goingrus sells Alfa policies. But the deal offered by Ingos/Solidarity is very nice when you don 't know your dates in advance. You can buy a given duration of validity in number of days (10, 15, 30, etc) for a year.
Hi everybody, I just joined the forum. Going to Saint Petersburg in 10 days time. It will be my fourth time in Russia, and the second time since sanctions began and the journey became a bit of an endurance test!
I tried to buy the Solidarity health insurance. I’m in the UK and tried 4 different cards. 2 UK card, 1 German debit card. And also the Tinkoff MIR card that I still have from my last visit. All cards were declined. One UK card issuer admitted they do not authorize payments ‘to this country’. Others blamed ‘the merchant’. For the MIR card I have no explanation. Therefore I am also wondering if the UK may be blocking some web traffic, so tried VPNs etc. To no avail. I have now emailed Attollo customer support, hoping they can assist and that there may be another way to pay.
If anyone finds another insurance company that might work, please let me know! Thank you
Update: I ended up bying the medical cover via goingrus.com. This morning the people from Solidarity got back to me, too, offering a different payment option which would probably have worked! I was just a little impatient - keen to send off my visa application. Good luck and a safe journey to all fellow travelers!
If you’re having trouble paying for Solidarity insurance, just a heads-up: you can also buy insurance from Cherehapa using a foreign (non-Russian) credit card.
I’ve been trying to pay for Russian medical insurance but my payments have failed. I used links for the insurance companies mentioned on the Russiable website. I used a UK Revolut Visa card and also a UK Mastercard credit card. Both methods failed this evening. I tried several times, clearing my browser’s cookies and browsing history. I selected payment with non-Russian card where this option was available. Has anyone else encountered any issues with payments recently? I will try again tomorrow. Thanks in advance for any guidance.
@Chris1972 Some users have reported occasional issues when paying with foreign cards. However, the system usually works. I recommend trying again using a different browser or device, or trying a different card if you have one available. If it still doesn’t go through, you can reach out directly to the insurance provider’s support team—sometimes they can offer an alternative payment method.
@kozmikpetukh As for the insurance requirement: you’re right that for citizens of the UK and USA, travel medical insurance is not mandatory to obtain a Russian visa, as explained in the article below. However, it’s still strongly recommended to have one. Medical care in Russia can be very expensive, especially when compared to the low cost of a travel insurance policy.
Thank you both for your assistance, I received an email from Attollo Assistance regarding my payment being declined. They provided a link to pay with PayPal which has being accepted.
