An unfortunate incident on the St. Petersburg-Helsinki train
Written: Dec 24 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: cheaper than Moscow, beautiful palaces
Cons: high petty crime rate
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| jeffrysky's Full Review: St Petersburg |
This opinion is not meant to introduce the magnificent grandeur of the tsarist palaces, cathedrals and museums in St. Petersburg as I believe my fellow Epinion members would have so eloquently done so. I am writing this just to relate an unfortunate event that has occured during a train ride from St. Petersburg to Helsinki during my Russian holiday in December 2000. I hope that this practical advice will help future travellers enjoy their trip into Russia even better by steering clear of these potential holiday-wrecking situations.
I had entered Russia as a large Singaporean tour-group with three accompanying tour-managers from Singapore: Singapore Airlines had launched an inaugural chartered flight into Moscow which I happily saw as a safer and more comfortable alternative to an Aeroflot flight. Onboard the flight, the passengers were not given any entry declaration forms for arrival into Moscow. It contradicted the information in the US Russian Travel Advisory that all travellers must fill in an entry declaration form upon arrival. Assuming that the airline staff was unfamiliar with Russian entry procedures as the flight was an unscheduled service, our tour-manager decided to double-check upon arrival. Once we arrived Sheremetyevo, our tour manager asked the airport immigration authorities for entry-declaration forms. They claimed there was no need for one. Our tour-manager didn't find it strange as it was her third trip into Russia and there was never a need for an entry declaration form. As such, our group cleared immigrations without entry declaration forms and started our tour as planned.
9 days later, it was time to leave Russia. The last city on our tour was St. Petersburg and we had to catch a train service to Helsinki, from where we could continue our tour of Estonia and Finland. The train ride went on smoothly until we reached the Russian-Finnish border-post when trouble started.
The Russian officials came onboard our carriage, and asked for our entry declaration forms. We simply related the events at Moscow-Sheremetyevo where we told it was not required. They shrugged it off, and collected our passports. Then for some strange reason or another, they asked two tour-managers to proceed to the adjacent empty carriage for a "formality check". They found out that our tour-managers were laden with US currency, each carrying US$3000++ worth of foreign currency for porterage tips and payment for optional tours. Our tour-managers explained that they were tour-leaders and naturally, had to carry such a large amount to pay for the travel expenses of the 120-member tour-group. The Russian officials refused the explanations, confiscated the tour managers' passports and ordered them to disembark the train at the remote border-post.
The tour-managers were brought to a room where they were interrogated. The Russian officials asked why they didn't have entry declaration forms to prove they didn't take out more US dollars than they brought in. Our tour-managers repeated the situation at Moscow and their duties as tour-leaders to pay for the entire group's expenditure. The officials simply threatened that they will "complicate matters" if the tour-managers did not allow their currency to be confiscated. Just seconds before our train continued on its journey, the Russian officials let one tour-manager off after she submitted US$1900 and some Swedish Kroners for confiscation. She was given a receipt which stated she could claim the sum back in two months' time if she returned to Russia. In her rush to scramble onto the train, she was not given her passport back. The other tour-manager ( supposedly more argumentative ) stayed behind alone in the room of a deserted Russian border post with austere Russian immigration officials forcing her into submitting the money.
As the train moved along to Helsinki, the tour manager realised her passport was not with her and the Finnish border-control rudely ordered her off the train after arranging for the Russian border-police to deliver back the passport. She was left standing on the platform out in the freezing wintry cold awaiting for the Russian vehicle to come to return her passport as the train continued its journey to Helsinki. The Finnish authorities refused to help her any further because it was "not their responsibility" as they so curtly put.
The next morning at the Ramada Presidenti Helsinki, we reunited with our tour manager. She had taken a taxi from the border-post after she collected her passport. It was already in the wee hours of the morning by then. The other tour-manager had been interrogated the whole night until she finally gave into the pressure. Unlike our tour-manager who managed to keep half of the original sum, she had all US$3000 confiscated including S$1000 worth of Singapore currency. Unlike our tour-manager who received a receipt to reclaim the cash, she was not given any receipt at all. This confiscation practice was clearly a case of legalised extortion.
We were later warned by Finnish train authorities that such things always occur with tour-groups using the rail-service to cross the border into Finland. It seems that the Russian immigration officals know that the tour-managers are the ones who carry the most cash. The reason why our tour-manager never experienced this before despite having led tour-groups to Russia two times in the past, was that she always exited Russia by flight.
Why wasn't there an entry declaration form at the airport when the rail authorities demanded an exit declaration form ? Without an entry declaration form, how could passengers prove that they didn't take out more money than they had brought in ? There is clearly an inconsistency in immigration procedures here and it really opens up the opportunity to extort for some corrupt officials.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jeffrysky
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Member: H.G. James
Location: Singapore
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 8 members
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