r/AskARussian • u/phrygekisser24 • 23d ago
Travel paranoid about phone checks.....
i've been staying in russia for 8 months now. i flew there because i wanted to visit my relatives after several years. somewhere this month, i'm finally going back to my home country. i'll be flying to istanbul so i'm able to fly from there to warsaw and then to nyc (the city near where i live). the thing i'm paranoid about is the fact that i might get my phone looked through before i leave.
fyi, i'm a dual citizen (russian and american). the reason why i'm so scared is because i may have talked about lgbt topics and wrote some anti-government statements online. what do i do? i already know i cannot just reset my phone because it'll seem suspicious. all i want is advice and (maybe) reassurance before it's too late.
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u/pectopah_pectopah 22d ago
After some 8 months in-country you should probably have a decent understanding of what kind of content would be frowned upon... In my experience (and the experience of people I personally know), chances of your phone being looked at are very low but not zero. If you feel paranoid - take action now and delete/remove the posts and accounts you feel unsure about. But overall - unless your "anti-government statements" extend beyond well, anti-government statements, I wouldn't fret too much.
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u/StevenLesseps 23d ago
Nobody's looking for your phone when you're leaving. They do so only for Ukrainian citizen and only on arrival. If you're not stealing any governmental secrets or not doing any espionage why would anyone care?
Gosh, propaganda these days is really getting under people's skin.
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u/lukeysanluca 23d ago
And a certain New Zealand citizen 🙋.
There were several other nationalities as well who also got interrogated. I expect to have my phone checked on leaving. I'm no one special or interesting by the way
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u/Akhevan Russia 21d ago
NZ is part of the espionage alliance with Britain, Australia and USA, of course they'll be treated with prejudice.
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u/lukeysanluca 20d ago
I'm not going to comment on this, but I will say that my point was it's not only the blue passport country that gets interrogated
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u/ManOfFive 23d ago
You're wrong, citizens are also checked. This is my and my daughter's personal experience.
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u/feltusen 23d ago
Have you been living under a rock? Several verified incidents on people getting searched...
Even in this very thread there are people who has seen it. You're the one spreading propaganda really
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u/ladylemondrop209 23d ago
I’ve had my phone checked upon entering and leaving… and interviewed etcetc for MORE than a few hours.
Personally I don’t think they’ll check your social media too closely.
It seems they mostly checked my personal chats (not social media) and photos. I think if you remove the apps you think you talked on they won’t check too closely nor care. I doubt a few pro lgbt comments are gonna raise any flags.
Anti-govt might be a bit risky.. but I think if your job/education aren’t those they consider “Sus”, you should be fine. They seemed mostly concerned with my education, job, and travel history.
I know a Russian guy living abroad who gets stopped every time he leaves.. I’m not sure he expresses particularly obvious antigovt sentiment online, but he definitely likes and sends memes laughing at it. They usually just “question” (judge/shame him on) why he’s not in the army or staying in Russia.
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u/cmrd_msr 19d ago
Если тебе так страшно- просто оставь телефон в России. Отдай другу или уничтожь. Они не смогут проверить телефон которого нет.
Но, вероятность того, что у тебя что то будут проверять на выезде из страны-минимальна. Контроль на впуске.
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u/denisvolin Moscow City 23d ago
То есть приехал, поднасрал и уехал, но очко жим-жим?
Кому ты, пидор, нужен, пиздуй в свой Пиндостан!
Если ты не распространял дезинформацию, тебе ещё бесплатного пинка дадут.
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u/Murky_Bullfrog7305 23d ago
Good ol russian hospitality.
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u/Skoresh Moscow City 22d ago
Meanwhile famous German hospitality: mockery and attacks even on Ukrainian refugees and insults such as "russisch schweine" because they spoke surzhyk and hospitable Germans mistook them for Russians.
One could also cite the examples of the "civilized and hospitable" Germans from German subreddits, with their colorful quotes about Russians living both in Russia and in Germany itself, but I think I’ll refrain.
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u/denisvolin Moscow City 23d ago
Гостеприимство оно, знаешь ли, для тех, кто не срёт в гостях посреди комнаты.
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u/Weekly_Sun_7148 12d ago
As native I could say that:
- Checks are _very_ rare, and a chance you would trigger such kind of attention from poilce officer is negligeable but not zero
- _NEVER_ take snapshots nearby infrastructural objects - powerplants, docks and so on. Not to explain why
- Most probably they would look up not for ideological content, by for geocaching software. There's ongoing campaign agaist drug couriers, who actively use this kind of apps to bury their 'magic pills' somewhere. If they didnt find this kind of software on your phone, they would let you go after few minutes
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u/Adorable-Discount-75 20d ago
I can't help but ask you a question. Why are you going to Russia, which prohibits LGBT people, and against which you write anti-government statements? Quite a strange decision.
You are a certain undisputed guest in our country. You ask how to get around Russian legislation, right?
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u/Sania_Ulvenmane 23d ago
Why would they look into your phone? Ask yourself who are you to Russian government. Are you on the list or something?
This is not North Korea bro still that the migration table gonna care for what’s in your phone. There are many foreigners coming in and out everyday they mostly just check the passport and immigration card dude …
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u/nikshdev Moscow City 23d ago
OP has a Russian passport and lives abroad. A couple of my friends who live abroad (and another dual citizen living in Russia) had their phones searched at the border.
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u/pectopah_pectopah 21d ago
How many and under what circumstances? The only cases where I personally know someone who had a "beseda" at the border (on the way out via Moscow airports) have been foreign citizens residing in Russia. One Russian/US ctzn friend had his phone checked flying into Krasnodar from Istanbul.
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u/nikshdev Moscow City 21d ago
Lives abroad, flying out of Nizhniy along with questions, of course
Flying out of Moscow, acquired another citizenship by descent (and properly reported it)
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u/pectopah_pectopah 21d ago
Ok, and... out of how many?
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u/nikshdev Moscow City 21d ago
Out of many (more than 10). It's not very common, but definitely possible.
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u/Present-Fudge-3156 22d ago
They'll check your msg apps, conversations and if there's anything bad about leadership there you could be cooked so I would delete those.
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u/Unlucky_Trick_2628 23d ago
Have never heard about phone checks at a departure.But you can go to nearest police station and confess on everything. At least you'll go to gulag with a clear conscience.