Once upon a time a Pastor from America tried to sneak some ammo into Russia. His name is Pastor Phillip Miles! I have a whole bunch of articles on the man and he spent some time in a Russian jail cell, rightly deserved I figured out later…
The way that I see what happened was this:
Miles realized that he could not ship ammo into Russia by any means. The system had a million barriers to trying to ship the ammo by mail. While it could be done by mail, (After many hoops to jump thru!) it would take much too long to do it and if you have ever shipped anything in Russia by mail? Then the odds are that it will not get there until a couple of blue moons have passed…
This holds true no matter if shipped by airmail, EMS, UPS, FedEx and DHL! The rule is no ammo passing the border. Just read all the below information after what I have wrote. This information comes directly from the Russian official website…
Now Pastor Phillip Miles had crossed the Russian border many times and felt confident that he could easily carry the ammo, which was a gift for a friend in Russia, across the border. They had never stopped him before and most likely have never even looked twice at him…
But and I mean a BIG BUT! Someone set him up and I suspect that his little entourage of followers in Russia saw an opportunity to rid themselves of this man and his monastical ways geared toward belittling the Russians…
For this time when he crossed the border, they did not bother him at the international border, but they waited until he tried to board a plane to Perm, Russia and then nonchalantly put him in jail. They knew he was carrying the ammo and waited for the exact correct moment to nab him…
So he knew he should not bring the ammo, but he also knew that he had crossed the border with many items and no one ever tried to worry about him before. The difference was that someone had set him up this time and his American naivety and superiority caught him with his hand in the cookie jar, so to speak…
I knew at the time that he knew what was right and wrong and I also knew that he tried to play innocent. Russia finally let him go home and I have heard nothing about him since, but I have never forgotten what he tried to do and that just made us law abiding Americans who travel Russia all the time look bad…
When you are in another land: Do not take them for granted and do not look down at them and try to skirt the laws. You may not feel those laws are correct, but really who cares what a foreigner thinks…
I knew the man and his father and well “enuff” said…
Read the rules and regulations below:
Ground: article 22 of Federal Law “On mail service”
- firearms, signaling guns, air guns, pneumatic guns, ammunition, cold weapon (including casting), electric strikes and spark dischargers as well as main components of firearms;
- narcotics, psychotropic, drastic, radioactive, explosive, corrosive, flammable and other hazardous substances;
- poisonous animals and plants;
- RF paper currency and foreign currency;
- perishable goods;
- items, that may endanger the safety of postal employees, soil, taint or otherwise damage other postal items or postal equipment.
Abroad
Ground: International postal items are subject to all restrictions provided by domestic legislation of the Russian Federation, Universal Postal Union Decrees, Regulations of the Postal Service and List of items prohibited and conditionally permitted for import to foreign countries, published in Manual on international postal items acceptance.
Upon entry onto the territory of the Russian Federation:
1) Printed and audiovisual materials:
- containing appeals to extremist and terrorist activities or public justification of terrorism,
- of pornographic nature,
- produced or distributed in violation of the laws of Eurasian Economic Community on elections and referenda,
- aimed at promoting Nazi merchandising or symbolism or merchandising and symbolism similar to Nazi merchandising or symbolism that leads to a shift in perception,
- containing other information which may threaten the political and economic interests of the Russian Federation, its national security, health and morality of its citizens;
2) All types of firearms (their parts), ammunition for them (their parts) constructively similar to civil and service personnel weapons;
3) Hazardous waste products;
4) Special technical devices for the surreptitious obtaining of information;
5) Poisonous substances which are not precursors of narcotic substances and psychotropic substances;
6) Narcotic substances, psychotropic substances and their precursors, including those in the form of medication;
7) Human organs and (or) tissues, blood and its components;
8) Plants of any shape and condition, plant seeds;
9) Live animals, excluding bees, leeches, silkworms;
10) Ozone destruction substances;
11) Plant-protecting agents falling within Appendixes A and B of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent organic pollutants of May 22, 2001;
12) Tools for procurement (catching) of aquatic biological resources:
- ready nodular fishing nets, hand or machine made of synthetic nylon or other mono-fiber threads with threads of less than 0.5 millimeters in diameter, with the mesh size of less than 100 millimeters (mesh design pitch size less than 50 millimeters);
- ready nodular fishing nets hand or machine made of other mono-fiber threads with threads of less than 0.5 millimeters in diameter, with the mesh size of less than 100 millimeters (mesh design pitch size less than 50 millimeters);
- electro-fishing systems and devices, consisting of electric signal generators with connected electric conductors and accumulators (batteries), which simultaneously perform the function of procurement (catching) of aquatic biological resources by using an electric current);
13) Alcoholic products, ethyl alcohol, beer;
14) Any types of tobacco goods and smoking mixtures;
15) Radioactive materials;
16) Cultural treasures;
17) Perishable goods;
18) Precious stones of any kind and condition, natural diamonds, with the exception of pieces of jewelry.
Upon clearance from the territory of the Russian Federation:
1) Printed and audiovisual materials:
- containing appeals to extremist and terrorist activities or public justification of terrorism,
- of pornographic nature,
- produced or distributed in violation of the laws of Eurasian Economic Community on elections and referenda,
- aimed at promoting Nazi merchandising or symbolism or merchandising and symbolism similar to Nazi merchandising or symbolism that leads to a shift in perception,
- containing other information which may threaten the political and economic interests of the Russian Federation, its national security, health and morality of its citizens;
2) All types of firearms (their parts), ammunition for them (their parts) constructively similar to civil and service personnel weapons;
3) Hazardous waste products;
4) Special technical devices for the surreptitious obtaining of information;
5) Poisonous substances which are not precursors of narcotic substances and psychotropic substances;
6) Narcotic substances, psychotropic substances and their precursors, including those in form of medication;
7) Human organs and (or) tissues, blood and its components;
8) Wastes of ferrous and nonferrous scrap;
9) Raw precious metals, scrap and wastes of precious metals, ore, precious metal and primary goods concentrates containing precious metals;
10) Mineral raw materials (natural uncut stones);
11) Information on mineral resources;
12) Plants of any shape and condition, plant seeds;
13) Live animals, excluding bees, leeches, silkworms, which are delivered with veterinary certification;
14) Ozone destruction substances;
15) Alcoholic products, ethyl alcohol, beer;
16) Any types of tobacco goods and smoking mixtures;
17) Radioactive materials;
18) Cultural treasures;
19) Perishable goods;
20) Precious stones of any kind and condition, natural diamonds, with the exception of pieces of jewelry.
Now you have some more information about Russia!
Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…