Someone is off to the former Soviet Union. So I, Robin Williams, has been called on to re-post some top advice from the archives.
May 2022.
I just arrived in Russia. Most of the people on the flight were Russians. It seems all/most people who were from non-friendly countries were taken aside for interrogation. Bar one family and myself, it was all POCs taken aside. None of the interrogators spoke English. I could understand most of what mine was asking. I've had this before. They just ask and ask, until out of the blue they let you go. It went fairly normal until he asked to look at the photos and messages in my phone. This is where the fun began. I have two people on Telegram who are pro-Ukraine, so I deleted those chats. He became interested in some of my memes, but obviously did not understand them.
The first one he singled in on was a Tweet from Libs of Tik Tok showing some degenerate promoting inappropriate topics and adorned with regime regalia of BLM + the sext-colour-flag. He continued, occasionally taking copies of various memes. One of them was this.
[image deleted]
By the way he looked at it, it was obvious he did not understand what was going on.
But he noticed a total of about seven memes and photos including the Ukrainian flag, three of which were sent by a Ukrainian refugee who was holding the Ukrainian flag with other refugees. At that point I thought I would be deported. Others were various mockery memes of the current thing, including this:
I waited for a bit. Then he took me to some guy who could speak English. Others were going in for questioning. When it came to me just my interrogator went in. I heard some laughter. The interrogator came out and seemed to tell me to follow him. But I wasn't sure, so I looked at the English-speaking one who performed a standing to attention movement and said "Добро пожоловать в России." (Welcome to Russia). I followed the first guy, expecting more interrogation. So far it had been about two hours. I was sent to one of the customs control booths and they began stamping through another guy in front of me. I looked back at my interrogator with a look of confusion, as it seemed they should have more questions. He just gave me a nod and I was stamped through.
As I entered the baggage collection there were some tables where I had to provide a coronavirus test last year. I asked if they wanted one, but they just looked whimsical as if it didn't matter and waved me on. It seems to be mask and vax pass free.
On money, it's best to bring dollars. Some banks are charging huge commission, e.g. I think on yen you'd loose 50% to convert to rubles. Some are charging 20% on dollars. But there are some that are buying dollars for about 60 rubles.
So, if anyone is heading to Russia, stock your phone's image gallery with RVF memes before you go.
May 2022.
I just arrived in Russia. Most of the people on the flight were Russians. It seems all/most people who were from non-friendly countries were taken aside for interrogation. Bar one family and myself, it was all POCs taken aside. None of the interrogators spoke English. I could understand most of what mine was asking. I've had this before. They just ask and ask, until out of the blue they let you go. It went fairly normal until he asked to look at the photos and messages in my phone. This is where the fun began. I have two people on Telegram who are pro-Ukraine, so I deleted those chats. He became interested in some of my memes, but obviously did not understand them.
The first one he singled in on was a Tweet from Libs of Tik Tok showing some degenerate promoting inappropriate topics and adorned with regime regalia of BLM + the sext-colour-flag. He continued, occasionally taking copies of various memes. One of them was this.
[image deleted]
By the way he looked at it, it was obvious he did not understand what was going on.
But he noticed a total of about seven memes and photos including the Ukrainian flag, three of which were sent by a Ukrainian refugee who was holding the Ukrainian flag with other refugees. At that point I thought I would be deported. Others were various mockery memes of the current thing, including this:
I waited for a bit. Then he took me to some guy who could speak English. Others were going in for questioning. When it came to me just my interrogator went in. I heard some laughter. The interrogator came out and seemed to tell me to follow him. But I wasn't sure, so I looked at the English-speaking one who performed a standing to attention movement and said "Добро пожоловать в России." (Welcome to Russia). I followed the first guy, expecting more interrogation. So far it had been about two hours. I was sent to one of the customs control booths and they began stamping through another guy in front of me. I looked back at my interrogator with a look of confusion, as it seemed they should have more questions. He just gave me a nod and I was stamped through.
As I entered the baggage collection there were some tables where I had to provide a coronavirus test last year. I asked if they wanted one, but they just looked whimsical as if it didn't matter and waved me on. It seems to be mask and vax pass free.
On money, it's best to bring dollars. Some banks are charging huge commission, e.g. I think on yen you'd loose 50% to convert to rubles. Some are charging 20% on dollars. But there are some that are buying dollars for about 60 rubles.
So, if anyone is heading to Russia, stock your phone's image gallery with RVF memes before you go.
