Do tourists need a special visa to enter the Chukotka District in Russia?

Question

There are some articles on the Internet mentioning that a special permission is required to enter Chukotka:

'All of them have tourist visas to Russia, all of them have entry stamps into Russia, but the local FSB denied them access to the area'.

The FSB press service for the Chukotka autonomous region - where famous tycoon Roman Abramovich was once governor - contradicted him and told Lenta.ru that the passengers lacked the necessary paperwork.

The same office told LifeNews website that the border authorities acted according to the law, as there were no permits issued for the visitors.

Is this true as of 2016? If it is, how can a tourist obtain this special permission?

Answer 1

Yes, both foreigners and Russian citizens usually need a special permission to enter regions in Russia designated as border zones and Chukotka is one of them. On Google Street View, you can along the Finnish border find some of the signs indicating the start of the regulated border zone. This might sound as an odd, paranoid remnant from the communist era, but you will actually find a similar, though not so broad (up to 3km), border zone at the Finnish side of the border, for which you need a special permit to enter as well.

The Chukotka government offers a web page in English on the subject 'Entry permit issuance procedure', but the text is somewhat confusing and addresses the 'inviting party'. The thing is, that to obtain a border zone entry permit, you need a formal 'invitation' from a subject within the border zone and the government's information page seem to indicate that the inviting party must apply for the permit on your behalf. Such an 'invitation' is by the way even required for a regular Russian tourist visa and for tourists in most cases issued by a Russian tourist agency. Even if I can't find any tangible information, I would be pretty sure that you need assistance from a Chukotkan tourist agency for them to apply for an entry permit on your behalf.

On the web site visitchukotka.com, you can both find a list of tourist agencies and some details on the tours they offer.