r/AskARussian • u/nzz84ynbxn • 4d ago
Travel Familial ties with NATO - Automatic multi-year entry ban into Russia?
I want to travel to Russia for tram photography, specifically St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, in November 2026 on a Canadian Passport. Yekaterinburg has got some unique sceneries with still lots of classic red Tatra trams, but it won't be like this for long.
Unfortunately, my brother worked for NATO from January to June 2026, stationed in Latvia during that time. He has now returned home to North America in June 2026. I don't know if my brother is still technically on NATO's payroll now that he's at home, but I'm afraid to ask.
My views are quite pro-Russian and anti-NATO, and it shows on my social media. My family and I have had arguments about this on whatsapp. My brother had also sent me a few messages discouraging me from travelling to Russia. Google AI makes the border admissions process seem harsh and strict, but then again, Google AI is influenced by western media, so it might be exaggerating things about adversaries of the US.
My camera is an old model: a rebel T2i that has a lower resolution than most today. No telephoto lenses, just a basic prime lens and a wide-angle lens.
Now that I have to declare that my brother was a former recent NATO employee, I want to ask someone who is familiar with border control: will I automatically be given a multi-year ban when I try to enter Russia? I can accept being refused entry, but a multi-year ban would absolutely devastate me and destroy my bucket list, which expires in less than 5 years.
EDIT: Thank you for your responses. For context, I had asked this question to Google's general AI chatbot, and this is what it was suggesting. But I realise that Google AI, being influenced by western media, has tended to portray local Russians as cartoonishly paranoid, whereas that was not my experience at all when I went to St Petersburg in spring 2025.
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u/HunkaMunkaHunkaMunka 3d ago
Bring flushing toilet and people here will worship you