Izvarino – Donetsk. Report from the “road of life” to Russia

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The Russian international automobile checkpoint “Donetsk” is located on the edge of the mining town of the same name with a population of 50 thousand people, a two-minute walk from the nearest private houses. In Soviet times, this was the final stop of public transport in the village of Izvarino. From here, from a large transit railway station, people went to Ukrainian Lugansk to shop. Since the declaration of independence of Ukraine, Izvarino became part of it; the rails towards Russia were dismantled and sold for scrap. And therefore Izvarino became a dead-end railway station. Nowadays, the village has acquired a different meaning. This is one of the points on the “road of life” Lugansk - Krasnodon - Izvarino - Donetsk of the Russian Federation.

Contacts and details

t/p MAPP Donetsk on the map

See also: Donetsk, Rostov region, Customs posts

Customs broker services

• Personal customs clearance specialist;
• We prepare and execute the necessary documentation - declarations, applications, various permitting forms, documents, reporting;
• Recommendations on HS codes for goods;
• Preliminary calculation of customs value and amount of advance customs payments;
• Drawing up DT projects and related documents;
• Document flow with customs;
• Submission of information at the request of the Customs post of MAPPA Donetsk;
• Representation of the Customer's interests in the customs authorities of the Russian Federation;
• Organization, if necessary, of preliminary customs inspection of goods and vehicles before submitting the DT;
• Drawing up a declaration of intent under the seal of the customs representative;
• Consulting in the field of foreign economic activity (FEA);

If you are planning to go

But before we get acquainted with the life of the fighting Donetsk, we still have to get there from Rostov-on-Don. The path, which in peacetime is expressed by the formula “sit down and go,” in wartime turns into a whole science with many subtleties. We won’t encounter any particular dangers on it (unless, of course, we purposefully look for them!), but mistakes will result in a fair amount of discomfort for the traveler. For example, do not forget that there is a curfew in Donetsk at night, when even taxis do not work: traveling several kilometers on your own two feet with heavy suitcases in your hands is in itself a punishment for violating it, albeit involuntarily...

What to take with you? I’m not talking about having a head on your shoulders – that goes without saying. Next is the passport. An ordinary internal Russian passport: you will have to keep it with you at all times, since document checks in the DPR have now become very rare, but sudden. There is no need for a foreign passport: they will also let you through with an internal one, but stamps with the inscriptions “Veselo-Voznesenka” or “Kuibyshevo” can serve as a basis for refusal to issue a visa by a number of countries, and they are guaranteed not to be allowed into Ukraine with them.

You need to dress for the trip and pack your things based on a couple of mandatory inspections. Less stuff in your pockets, except for the most necessary things, less metal objects on your clothes: hasty manipulations of emptying and filling pockets, as well as undressing and dressing, do not bring pleasure. Personally, I have developed for myself the optimal set of things for such border and customs procedures: sweatpants without any belts or braces that make metal detectors ring, as well as a vest that, together with the backpack, travels along the introscope tape.

Regarding expensive things. To take or not to take is a personal matter for everyone: despite the war, the crime situation in the DPR and LPR is very calm, the chances of becoming a victim of a criminal attack are no greater than in Russia. However, life shows that war is not the best place to look for adventures on your own: with the right abilities, a person can easily find them without even leaving home and without incurring travel expenses.

A very painful issue is money. The banking system of Donbass is isolated from the outside world, so before the trip we stock up on cash in rubles - this is the only means of payment in the DPR and LPR. You can, of course, take dollars, euros or even hryvnia with you: local exchange offices willingly accept them, although for the average person there is no benefit in this.

Price

One consignment of goods is understood as a consignment of goods sent at a time to the consignee using one waybill in one vehicle within the framework of one foreign trade contract.

Return to Novorossiya

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“Phew, well, am I already there?” - asks a woman with a child, placing large bags near the barrier.

“There’s still a little bit left,” a border guard with a St. George’s ribbon on his collar and a machine gun behind his back supports her.

“We’ll be back home!” — the Ukrainian woman keeps up the conversation.

“You will definitely return, only to Novorossiya,” the border guard says after her. It turned out that he was a militiaman and, as he calls himself, a citizen of the unrecognized state of Novorossiya.

The first checkpoint on the Russian side with a barrier is greeted with the inscription “Ukraine is already dead.”

“We need to erase it, and there’s a mistake in the word, but we’re building a rule-of-law state,” explains the border guard, correcting the machine gun.

The militia promised to paint over the inscription “Ukraine is already dead.” Photo: AiF / Vitaly Kolbasin

At this last cordon on the Ukrainian side, people seem to have a second wind and additional strength. They see the coveted “Russia” sign, to which they need to walk just a little bit, and they speed up their pace. Well, the cars will still have to wait in line.

While entry into Ukraine is free, in the opposite direction people stand in kilometer-long queues for days. For everyone, you need to follow the procedure - fill out the documents. Cars are allowed through two or three at a time, so as not to create congestion at the checkpoint itself.

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Passengers leave the cabin and stand motionless, looking at the “Russia” border sign.

“Boys, let me fill out the declaration form!” — a young woman happily asks from the window of an old car.

The militia has held the checkpoint since June 20, and for 10 days now there has been no shooting from the Ukrainian side here, says a 52-year-old militiaman.

“The common people, not politicians, know better how to organize their state,” he says. “Nobody wants to fight, but they took up arms because they are tired of the fact that we, Russians, in the southeast of Kyiv are considered second-class citizens.”

He continued: “They are going in the hope that they will go home. Look into the eyes of the children - this is the exodus of the Russian population from Ukraine.” The militia is confident that they will defend the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

A young guy in civilian clothes is standing next to us, listening to our conversation. He cannot get to the Russian side - he does not have a passport.

It turned out that the man spent the night in the steppe, escaped from the National Guard of Ukraine from Debaltsevo and is now waiting for his sister from Kharkov, who will bring him identification documents. “There are hundreds of such people,” adds the border guard.

There are only a few steps left to the cherished border of Russia. Photo: AiF / Vitaly Kolbasin

One small incident makes you distracted. As if out of the ground, another militia appears in a military uniform different from the border one, covered in dust and black with sweat. Not a border guard - a soldier. “Get out of sight immediately that you’re scaring people,” the border guard threatened him.

You can guess from the guy’s sly smile that he went AWOL.

Operating procedure

1. Request. You leave a request in any convenient way: by phone, email or through forms on the website.
2. Consultation with a specialist. We call you back and find out your task in the field of foreign economic activity and inform you of the price for customs clearance.
3. Signing the contract. Agreeing on the terms of cooperation and signing the contract.
4. Preparation of documents and certificates. Collection and preparation of the necessary permits for the import or export of your goods.
5. Customs clearance. Submitting a declaration, resolving disputes and attending inspections and inspections.

Happy to help

The passengers of this train are sociable people. And not only because time flies faster when talking: during the war years, mutual assistance became a popular activity. Experienced travelers will be happy to share with newcomers the subtleties of the art of filling out migration cards, tell you where it is better to change trains and how transport works in a particular city. It is considered good form to help inform someone whose phone is not connected to the local network about their arrival. The latter became very relevant after January 2021: before that, most residents of the DPR had packages of the Ukrainian Vodafone network, but a multi-month blackout and a sharp increase in communication prices by Kiev forced them to switch to the local Phoenix. But if Vodafone SIM cards could be purchased anywhere and without presenting documents, then for Phoenix you have to go to the post office with your passport. Another disadvantage of Phoenix is ​​the impossibility of using it in roaming, except perhaps in the territory of the LPR.

The reader probably noticed why we take a ticket to Makeevka: after Yasinovataya, the railway passes in close proximity to the front line, so no trains run there. There is also no point in going to Yasinovataya itself: anyway, the bus to Donetsk from there goes through Makeevka. Therefore, at 16:34 (trains in the DPR rarely deviate from the schedule) we leave the carriage and go to the stop of the city bus going to the center of Makeyevka. There we will have a transfer to Donetsk, where we will end up around six o’clock in the evening.

On the hood of the bus that we will board on the square near the Makeevka station, there will most likely be a sign with the inscription “Donbass”. This car was assembled in Donetsk, but we will return to this topic later...

Based on materials from the DON 24 News Agency
Tags: busDPRDonetsk trainRepublic of CustomsTransport