Flag and Map of Belarus
I landed at the airport in Minsk sometime after 11:00pm. I had flown there from Vancouver via London and Dubai. Normally I would have flown through Europe, but because of the ongoing war in Ukraine and, at the time, the sanctions against Belarus by nearly every country in Europe, I had to fly via Dubai. I had spent a nice day in Dubai and was now at my final destination. On the flight to Minsk, I noticed live airplane map that our route for the direct flight between Dubai and Belarus wasn’t even direct. Because of the war, we couldn’t fly over Ukraine; we had to veer off East to fly over Russia and then back to Belarus, making the flight even longer. It had taken me over 30 hours to get there; I was tired, and I just wanted to go to my hostel.
But first, the formalities…
At the time that I went to Belarus the options for getting a visa were this: I could apply for a visa ahead of time (a lengthy and annoying process) or I could fly to Minsk and get an automatic 30-day visa on arrival. That was my plan. All that was required was some paperwork and health insurance from a Belarusian provider. (I got the health insurance online, but there is a booth right at immigration where you can buy it.) I did not anticipate there to be any problems. But border crossings are unpredictable.
I was one of the first people off the plane and in the queue to go through immigration to enter the country. A buxom, blonde woman in a military-type uniform scrutinized my passport with a magnifying glass, looking at each page carefully. I had expected this, having read blog posts from other travelers where the same thing happened. But then she called out to one of her colleagues. A young, thin man dressed in similar attire escorted me from the line. He took me back to an area near an office and asked me to sit on a bench just outside of it. He took my passport and arranged around me a little fence of stanchions and ropes to keep me in place. “This is weird.” I thought. But I wasn’t concerned.
He disappeared into the office with my passport and about 15 minutes later asked me to follow him inside. I was still not nervous at this point. I was just curious as to what was going to happen.
Inside, they proceeded to ask me questions. They asked me every conceivable question about my life and my travel plans. They asked me why and where I was going; they asked me how I had planned the trip; why I had chosen it; where I was staying; who I knew there; had I ever been to Russia before (I had); had I been to Ukraine before (I had); did I know anyone anywhere from Russia, Ukraine, or Belarus; the nature of my job; what kind of law I practised; and on and on. They wanted to look at my paper maps and at my notebook, as well as the pages I had photocopied from my Lonely Planet. I had highlighted things on the maps, and they wanted to know why.
They then sent me back out to the bench and I sat there for … I don’t even know how long. While I was sitting there, I noticed that a few other people had been pulled out of the queue as well. Three other men went into the room and were questioned briefly and then were sent on their way into Belarus. One fellow was denied entry into the country for not having some paperwork and he was told that he would have to fly back to wherever it was he came from. At this point I started to not get worried, but I did start to think of alternative plans if I was denied entry.
They then called me back in and went through my phone, where they looked at my emails, at my contacts, and at my social media profiles, which they scrolled through. They looked at my laptop and went through the same things again, as well as my browser history and some documents I had saved on my desktop.
A different person asked me nearly all the same questions again. It seems that the thing that they were most interested in was my blog. This blog. I didn’t tell them that I had a travel blog, but they saw the links to it on my social media profiles and they asked me questions about it. I’m not sure if they were able to read the posts, but they looked at a lot of them. I just explained to them it’s a hobby blog that I write about my travels. They seemed very concerned that I was a journalist.
In scrolling through my Instagram, he asked me “Why you have picture of Putin?” I thought for a second, genuinely confused, and I said, “I have a picture of Putin?” And then he showed me, and I did have a picture of Putin. It was a protest poster in Riga that I had taken a picture of the year before. I just explained that I just thought it was an interesting piece of art.
He also asked me peculiar questions like, “Do you know what March the 9th is?” I said, confused, “Tuesday?” And he said “Do you know Victory Day? And I said, “Yes! It’s the day that the Soviets defeated the Nazis in World War Two,” feeling proud of myself like I got an answer right on a history quiz. It hadn’t occurred to me that Day was occurring during my trip. I had been to Russia for Victory Day many years ago and I was delighted to discover that I was going to be in Minsk this time (and I did attend the festivities), but he wanted to know if that was a reason that I was going to Minsk at this time.
All of this might sound kind of intimidating and scary, but it really wasn’t. The men were polite, and I never felt threatened or intimidated. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was very tired, it was kind of a nice experience. Really? You want to sit down and ask me about my travels? There are two things that I love to talk about more than anything else: myself and travel. Ha. I will never stop talking.
Also, I was very polite and cooperative. As they were asking me these questions, I kept thinking about the advice that I would give a client if they’re being cross-examined in court. I would tell them to think about every question to make sure they understand the question (and if not to ask for a clarification); don’t get emotional; and don’t volunteer more information that you are being asking for. And that’s how I handled this interrogation. Those years in law school paid off.
They sent me back out to the bench a final time and I waited again. It was now past 1:30am, so I had been there for about 2 1/2 hours. Finally, they came out, gave me my passport, and sent me on my way. I went back up to the buxom blonde, who stamped my passport, and I was in Belarus.
I took a taxi to my hostel the Urban Hostel. It was very late, and I just checked in and went to bed. It was a great hostel: good location, walk-able to everything, great amenities, and very cheap. I recommend it.
Urban Hostel in Minsk
While I was obviously happy to be in Belarus, I have to say that that initial introduction did give me some pause. I had certainly heard a lot about Belarus is being kind of a Soviet throwback state with a lot of military and police oversight and possibly surveillance. And after that initial introduction, I was cautious. I didn’t tell anyone what had happened. I would be in the country for five days and I still had to leave. I had done some Googling and heard from some locals about how there can be serious consequences for seemingly very minor infractions or even conversations, so I was careful about what I talked about and to whom during my trip. (I will not go into any detail here, but you can Google these things.) I think Belarus is a perfectly safe and lovely place to travel, but an element of discretion is advisable.
Flash forward: When I left Belarus, I had no issue whatsoever. They didn’t ask me any questions; they just stamped my passport, and I was on my way back to Dubai.
I don’t know if Belarus is always this tight with its security and immigration, or if it was more so just because of the war, but it would not deter me from going back. I loved Minsk and the trip I did outside of Minsk. I would certainly go back to Belarus; I would just plan an earlier arrival.
On to the posts about Minsk…
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