From Moscow to Rybachiy peninsula

Panda*, about what are you laughing? It`s the sad truth, you must know

yeeees, I know!

Excellent report! It's a real ADVENTURE! - thanks for posting.

By the way, were these tickets expensive? How does it work in Russia, do you also get penalty points against the license?

rdwalker, there are no penalty points against the license in Russia now. But there are some traffic violations that involve a direct driver license nullification. Theese are:

- overspeeding more than +60 km/h. It means that you must ride 120+ km/h in a city or 150+ km/h outside a city.

- drunken riding. Now it`s the zero per thousand law in Russia

- left side riding. There is the right side driving in Russia - just same as in USA.

- riding without a license plate. Avoid to lose it somewhere in a field.

- riding a bike with HID lights, if HID is not OEM

- riding a bike with strobe lights or something the same

- riding through a closed railway crossing

- if you do not pass a vehicle with a special lights (I don`t know how it`s to say it in English right) - police, ambulance, firemen, etc

- provoking an accident that entails middle or hard injuries to somebody. It may be even you. If you crash and get injuries - they will take your license.

- leaving the accident`s place

- drinking alcohol after an accident but before the police alcohol test

Overspeeding for +20 km/h means 100 Russian roubles fine (it`s about 3 US $). +40 - 300 RR. Less than +60 - 1500 RR.

Russian police (militia in Russian) is corrupted totally, so you can give them some money and go further. It`s the Russian reality.

Interesting! Especially the fact that they consider non-OEM HID lights to be such serious offense.

OF course, regarding paying your way out of a ticket, that is not limited to Russia - it seems to be often in places where the police are not well paid, but often deal with drivers who appear to be well off. Bribery is an equalizer, I guess.


Here in the States, there is a form of bribery as well, although it is an official bribery, with proceeds going to the municipalities. If you are willing to spend money for a lawyer and for "special" non-points violations, you may be able to renegotiate your ticket to a higher fine, but without points. Needless to say, that makes you feel ripped off just as much as if you'd have to pay a corrupt cop on the roadside.

Donogh, great adventure story and pictures

Thank you for sharing this with us!

rdwalker, there are many cases here in Russia, when bikers do not pay even if they have violated some rules. Cops may ask you to seat on your bike, or ask you to make a wheely, or you must tell him a good joke, and you can leave without any fines. Chances are increasing, if this is an officer on a motorcycle. If the violation does not mean the license nullification and there was in another part of Russian Federation, it`s no need to worry - papers will not be delivered because of beaurocracy and bribery - a cop need to earn money on a road instead of making paper work. Otherwise you need to pay to cops for nothing - only for passing - in some Caucasus republics or in Asian parts of Russia. Some sort of robbers, but they wear uniform...

About HID - many and many Russian car drivers set Chinese H4 low/high HID on their cars without any adjustment and kept blinding other people on a road. So non-factory HID is illegal now...

L.B.S., you are welcome

Some useful information for those who are planning this year's trip to the fish or in Norway:
1. CPT in the Titovka (where the border guards checking passports) closed! So now there's no one checks the documents - it is possible to Medium-Rybachy! Even the barrier dismantled.

That sounds very promising! So that means I can just ride there without any special permits or the like? I am planning a trip there for this summer.
I remember that there was a checkpoint about 70km before the norwegian border - that's before the turnoff to Rybachy. Is it that checkpoint which has been removed?

Sorry for hijacking this thread, but this RR deserverd a bump anyway.

AlpineGuerrilla, as I understand, de-jure foreigners may not go to Medium and Rybachiy peninsulas, but de-facto - no one will check your documents. You risk 5000 roubles fine or deportation. Let it bring some excitement to your trip!

Here is the link to Russian forum: http://www.moto-travels.ru/forum/11-2328-1 If you will need any translation - let me know.

Great report - I was interested to read it. :)

rabbitears, thank you!

I enjoyed that RR too!

And this is a classic adventure quote.

"There was a new to me weather phenomenon in Karelia - it was sunny"

Thanks a lot. It shall bring some excitement to the trip. There are so many of those zones in the Murmansk area, we can't know about everything, right? :d

Do you also happen to know the status of the Tersky Coast east of Kandalaksha? Its Wikipedia article says it's also requiring a special permit.

AlpineGuerrilla, Olenitsa, Kashkarantsy, Kuzomen, Tetrino, Chapoma, Pyalitsa, Lumbovka - oh, such precious places for the real ADVrider I`ve asked that guy from Murmansk, he must knows it better than me.


Owly, you are absolutely right

AlpineGuerrilla, Tersky coast is not the border area, so you must not have any problems. But if you plan to fish, you must buy fishing license.

Yes, there are some very cool ADV destination on the Kola Peninsula.

I was hoping the Wikipedia information was outdated - now that's some good news. Thanks the clarification. Now if only they would open their sub harbor, would sure be interesting to have a look at their nuclear subs.

Man, what a great ride report. Thank you for taking the time to post it. It's interesting, to me, that no matter where we are, no matter who we are, some of us have a drive to get out and explore the land and the history.

Thanks again for sharing,
Huero

huero, thank you for kind words!

As of last year, it worked like this: at Titovka, there IS a checkpoint, but it is just that, a checkpoint. They do check your documents, so you should have *some*. That is, doesn't matter if you are Russian or a foreigner - show valid ID and you're free to go, onwards towards Kirkenes or turning right onto the Sredny and Rybachy, they don't care.

I'm just about to post up an RR about my ride to Rybachy from last summer with a bunch of BMW riders.

While I'm at it, excellent video from your northern trip throughout Russia and Scandinavia :) you rode quite close to where I live (about midway between St.Petersburg and Vyborg), even if in transit. If you will be passing St.Petersburg this year, feel free to drop me a PM.