St Petersburg with Russian born children???

[Little Doe]

We had about an hour and a half wait with the customs getting off the ship this summer. I would wait until they are of age to choose their preference of citizenship. Maybe you can find other parents of Russian born children who have been in this situation.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

We had about an hour and a half wait with the customs getting off the ship this summer. I would wait until they are of age to choose their preference of citizenship. Maybe you can find other parents of Russian born children who have been in this situation.

Wow.

Couple of minutes for us, each way, two days, not DCL tour.

 

[SleepyDeb]

OP, Clearly you've done research and you know that there are risks.

I completely understand want to show your children the land of their birth. Our daughter was born in England while my husband was in the Air Force and we were stationed there. We came back to the US when she was 18 mos and she desperately wanted to see England. We were able to take her when she was about 10, but obviously a much easier trip than to Russia.

My husband fought the Cold War in the 80's at a base with nukes and the only model of planes capable of both carrying nukes and reaching the Soviet Union. His base had a big billboard size sign at the entrance reading "The mission of ...[this base]...in time of peace is to prepare for war and DON'T YOU FORGET IT!" So, my view of Russia maybe skewed. It's just that Putin seems to want to put everything back to the way it was in the USSR.

So, take this in the spirit is offered and knowing that I may be overly distrustful of the Russia govt:

Personally, I would skip this port.

 

[bethy]

OP, while I applaud your fervent determination to follow the letter of the law it seems that you also know from experience that sometimes there is no definitive "law" or authority in the first place. Especially in an unstable or corrupt country. That can be true here in the USA, too . . .

Sometimes even if you do everything "right" it still doesn't matter when you are there dealing with one individual at one particular moment. "right" can be an ambiguous concept that is subjective to the moment and the individuals and cultures you are dealing with. There definitely aren't going to be any guarantees in this situation, in my estimation. Even if some random person at the state dept tells you there is. That's one of the joys of international travel, but some international travel is riskier by nature.