millefleur

Rant sidenote: Really annoying that the border is still basically open (hence buses) but the Finnish government cannibalised and sold off their train components. Not only did they stop the train, they made sure the train will never come back.

That's great to hear. How was the bus ride? Was the delay at the border long?

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People in Russia are equally baffled now. Nobody understands what the heck is going on. There was a weird Putin speech that was hyped up today and then it ended up being a nothingburger that clarified nothing, only repeated what had already been said. There are some wild theories swirling that the video was edited/tweaked (maybe Putin is being puppeteered and lead around like a blind man by his own cabinet members?), that another meeting will take place between Putin and Luka....honestly who knows at this point. To be a fly on the wall of the Kremlin right now....

The whole thing is such a confusing SNAFU that it's really hard to call anything yet. The video of Shoigu that came out today is supposedly old, but if the Kremlin is releasing it, seems like they aren't exactly planning to kick the guy out. Dust will be settling on this matter for some days if not weeks to come.

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Yes, that too. So basically gripe upon gripe but rumors are swirling that discussing Shoigu and Gerasimov did not even come up during the "negotiation" so we just have to wait and see what happens. Nobody knows for sure yet, but if the Kremlin did not do a staff reshuffle that would be even more bizarre. Prigo said himself he has beef with Shoigu and Gerasmiov but not Putin himself (hence why it's more of a rebellion than a coup, if we take his word on that.) All those around me believe this was a false flag. Reasonable people, too, not the kind of people who just call everything a false flag. It's all so confusing so who knows at this point, maybe there was some minor bust up between Wagner and Russian forces or Wagner themselves "started it"....we will probably never know for sure unless there is a leak. What we do know is that the reason the Wagner rebellion was successful at all is because local authorities and other armed personnel did not fire on them once they started. All bets right now are on Prigo meeting a sudden mysterious end during his retirement in Belarus. Probably not poisoned tea because he was Putin's chef after all, the guy has got to be hyper paranoid around food and drink lol.

What I've heard is that it was never really meant to be a coup. It was just a dispute over contracts/money that got taken way out of hand. MoD wanted to rope Wagner into the regular forces and Prigo got mad about that. Seems like an overreaction but this is Russia we are talking about. I don't think it was staged but maybe Prigo had pulled Luka into it behind the scenes and planned to just bow out one he got what he wanted. Putin has been living in a bubble (there was a leak a few weeks about about how oblivious he was at the current state of the war) and I think between Prigo's petty money issue and getting fed up with the Kremlin's oblivion, he just decided to use force to get what he wanted. Prigo has also become an unusual class of oligarch: he has been on the frontlines and has been part of the war in its most intense parts. He's not just sitting around in a mansion watching things from a distance. He was probably getting annoyed that the rest of Putin's circle is so far removed from the stuff he is in the thick of and just wanted to slap some sense into them, while also revealing the current fragility of the Russian state. The fact that Putin gave an address calling him a traitor but then seems OK with him just exiting stage left to Belarus is indeed very strange. But I don't see where the calling him a traitor fits into the "it was staged" narrative: it's a slippery slope for Putin because Prigo is popular with the people for aforementioned reasons for being shoulder-to-shoulder with the combatants and also actually putting his life on the line. Putin maybe freaked out but then realized turning a popular figure like that into a martyr would only further undermine his government. If it was staged, I would say only by Prigo and Luka, Putin genuinely seemed like he was caught off guard.

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How was his experience at the border?

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So we used the ustraveldocs site to schedule a tourist visa appointment for MIL in Almaty. Kazakhstan is allowing Russians to schedule appointments there even if you are a nonresident. The calendar showed up no problem and there were plenty of appointments in August, then all booked up until November. Just wanted to share this here because you don't need a 3rd party company to book your appointment. Be sure to pay the fee with a US card because Russian bank cards don't work. Almaty seems to offer interviews in Russian language as well. https://www.ustraveldocs.com/kz/ru

Haha I had to check that we were in the year 2023 here....the train between Helsinki and St Petersburg is long gone. I would not consider this an option, even in the days long before the Ukraine invasion, the Russian-Finnish border via car or bus was just terrible. Would not have recommended it then, definitely do not recommend it now.

Oh huh, that seems odd to me. I know some Russians with temporary(?) residence and Serbia and they got tourist visa interviews as residents no problem. Would imagine the same rules apply for immigrant visas?

If you live there, it should be fine. My original comment was for non-residents trying to go via Serbia.

The U.S. State Department has provided guidance to U.S. citizens who are eligible to locally file Form I-130 petitions for Afghan, Ethiopian and Ukrainian immediate relatives. Key Points: U.S. citizens who are physically present overseas with their Afghan, Ethiopian or Ukrainian immediate family members and have not filed an immigrant visa petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) can request to file a Form I-130 petition locally at the closest U.S. embassy or consulate that is currently processing immigrant visas. Read more here: https://www.bal.com/bal-news/united-states-state-department-provides-guidance-to-u-s-citizens-locally-filing-form-i-130-petitions-for-certain-immediate-relatives/