Due to the war in Ukraine, neither Russia or Belarus were invited to participate.

Russia

Due to Covid and the horrid war I have been denied the opportunity to ride on the trans-Siberian Express.

My mate Poll and I had booked a trip from Helsinki to Vladivostok, with a side trip to Mongolia, which was postponed three times before finally being cancelled.

Sadly this might never happen now, leaving the enclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea as the only part of Russia that I have visited.

We arrived by bus from Gdańsk and left by train to Minsk back in 2015. We also took an internal train to Svetlogorsk on the Baltic Sea. 90% of the world’s amber is mined from this area and not surprisingly Kaliningrad is full of gaudy amber shops.

Belarus

Our train from Kaliningrad travelled east to Minsk via Lithuania.

We stayed in the capital for four days and it’s easy to see how they remain so tied to Russia. Lenin statues aplenty, a huge KGB building and Communist attitudes.

We visited both the State opera house and circus whilst there.