Russian Visas

By Jack Brummet, Travel Editor

Applying for a Russian visa has been a Kafkaesque experience.  The incredibly strange rules and procedures, the necessity of never actually saying what you will be doing in Russia; the need for an invitation from The Kremlin, and then the invite Telex, where the Russians let their embassy know they can talk to you.  This is followed by scads more paperwork and documents, some of which must be very carefully worded as well as having to, at times, actually paste in the actual Russian phrases.  And any whiff of a variant, or an error sends you to the back of the line.

But, as weird as this has been, it's nothing like what the Aussies have to go through.  What could they have possibly done to the Russians that provoked this?:

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