Nick_Moscow

Anyone else heard about this??
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/20/us-russia-bill-dualcitizens-idUSBREA4J0MJ20140520
Honestly I'm surprised no one started a thread on the topic when the law was first being discussed about a week ago. I came home from work, and my wife was so upset- I told her "they" can go to h*ll and she won't be "registering" at the Russian embassy in DC because who knows what Russia will try to do with that information in the future!
It's funny because now I see we should have just stuck with the permanent residency for her When we were debating whether to apply for her citizenship, I asked all our Russian-American acquaintances how they handled traveling to Russia, since I knew dual citizenship was outlawed in Russia. I drilled down for details, explaining how suspect it would look to leave the USA on one passport and enter Russia on another, when the Russian one wouldn't have a visa or exit stamps on it. The Russian friends looked at me like I was crazy but now it looks like I was being quite sane...
What do you all think of this? Do your wives plan to register at the Russian consulates? Or risk paying the fine or going to a soft-labor camp ("volunteer" work)? Or something else??

This is from the US Embassy in Moscow site confirming dual citizenship for Russian citizens (and they must use their Russian passports when entering/leaving Russia):
http://moscow.usembassy.gov/russian-visas.html#DualCits
This is from Ukraine embassy site:
http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/dual-nationality.html

My wife is American here and Russian in Russia.

I'm American in both. 'merica. F'k yeah!

EVERY single Russian/Eastern European native who has obtained US Citizenship has broached this topic! Essentially the native wants to obtain US Citizenship to make it easier to live with the spouse, to better assimilate to US life, or for any other reason, but also wants to keep the Russian passport so that it's simple to visit family and friends. My wife while she had her ten-year green card very easily renewed her external passport here at the Russian consulate. Also many many acquaintances and friends left the US on their US passports and arrived in Russia on their Russian passports. So: close this topic if you want MOD, but in doing so you're denying the forum members useful information and you're claiming "circumvention of governmental immigration law" when this "circumvention" happens all the time.
I'm going to write on the topic a bit, not to upset the MODs, but to show how (for Russia at least) this topic is a bit more multifaceted than simply an immigration law violation issue. I hope you all find it interesting!
This summer my wife will make her first trip home as a US citizen, and so we've asked every Russian/American we know how they handle this: apparently when arriving in Russia you just show your Russian passport, and when leaving you show the US one. Of course I'm shocked when I hear this since yes, Russia doesn't recognize dual citizenship, but I'm not shocked b/c of the draconian "circumvention of governmental immigration law" that the MOD reminded us of, but b/c I very practically understand that this situation presents a bribe-taking opportunity for the Russkies that is simpler than shooting fish in a barrel. (this is why in Moscow you always see eastern Asians being stopped by the police to check on their papers, but not Westerner expats who probably also are illegally working in the country - it's just much simpler to scare the former into paying up - there's a silly sitcom called Nasha Rasha, for those of you who speak Russian, that plays on some of these issues) For the OP or anyone else reading, I'll report back on how her trip went, and also I can tell you that multiple friends of ours made this trip in the fashion described and were never arrested/banned from the country/forced to pay bribes.
I think the reason that has never happened is due to the history behind Russia's rescindment of its dual-citizenship rules. Dual citizenship was just fine (and Russian citizenship for folks from FSU countries easy to obtain) initially following the Collapse of the USSR, which I guess made sense since, as Putin famously said, the collapse was "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century" that left ethnic Russians dispersed throughout the former USSR in what were now hostile-to-Russians countries. Russia wanted it to be easy for its citizens to come home fromthe FSU countries.
Anyway if you do a little reading you'll see that in 2002 Putin passed a law (for what purpose I don't know-I guess to satisfy his Nationalist supporters?) that greatly restricted citizenship rules and eliminated the idea of dual citizenship - FSU citizens had to give up their citizenship to become Russian citizens.
For those who are interested, you can also see the statement on the web site of the US consulate in St. Petersburg that sets up the idea of dual citizenship - the US basically says "you can keep your initial citizenship when you become a US citizen, but don't come crying to us if you travel and can't leave Russia to come back to the US b/c Russia doesn't recognize dual citizenship."

I was thinking of Fiduciary Instruments and said, "Boy, it must be nice to have a woman bringing money here!"

Buying ammo almost always has to be done locally (to avoid shipping) and from a private individual (to avoid taxes) in order to be cost-effective. Plus it's hard to find it for sale online. I've had good luck with a few online places, namely AIM Surplus.
I did an Appleseed event this weekend sponsored by Wolf Ammo. They brought us 8,000 rounds of FREE ammo to shoot and Mach 1 brought us VEPRs and Tavors to shoot it out of. Totally awesome event! Anyway, the dude from Wolf said there are over 3.5 Billion (yes, that's BILLION!) rounds of .223 being manufactured every month and it's not being hoarded by the government. It's being jacked up by retailers and paranoid preppers like me are sitting on our stashes. Prices - at least at the manufacturing and distribution levels - are largely unchanged. The market itself is what's driving it up and making it hard to find. Your buddy is right.
I doubt prices will ever come back down to where they were but my theory on all this is the dumbasses who bought sky is falling rifles at post-hysteria prices then bought sky is falling ammo at post-hysteria prices. They're to the point now where their wives are starting to find out about it and they're thinking about paying for other stuff and they're going to sell those rifles soon. They'll also stop buying ammo and the rifles and ammo will both be coming back down in price and availability will be up too. Gun show deals will be plentiful because all those ####### will have to offload their kit for pennies on the dollar because their wives said so. It happened last time. It'll happen again.
Getting your wife into shooting isn't as hard as it seems. Take her to the range, let her shoot what she wants (don't ever force anything on her. Russian women love a day outside and a day at the range can be nice even without shooting.) and only what she wants. If you're really lucky you'll take her friend and her friend's husband with you. Since the guys are shooting together, the ladies will naturally want to shoot too.
I'd avoid all that sissy pink stuff. Russian ladies are hard. If you're going to buy her shooting stuff, get her the cheapest ####### you can find. She'll buy whatever she wants anyway once she figures out she needs it. "It must be fashion-able for use whis my jacket."

Glocks are great pistols. I'm not a huge fan but that's just personal preference. (I'm a 1911 guy.) I respect them for what they are... and that's a great pistol! You'll be happy with it and if you're learning pistol on a Glock, you'll be better for it.
The ammo I bought was $.20/rd. (Counting the gun too it was about $.33/rd - still cheaper than my .45 at pre-hysteria prices... and with a new gun!) The 7.62x25 is hardly a "smaller caliber" round. It's the same caliber as my AK-47 (just a shorter length). It's very loud, very powerful (for a pistol, anyway) and basically it's just a scaled down rifle round. Interestingly enough, it has the most penetration of any military surplus handgun because the velocity is very high and that enables it to punch through stuff like kevlar. Beater pistols, cheap ammo, and rugged as a tank. Can't beat that for a sidearm!
I wouldn't recommend it as a first gun or for something to learn on. It's Russian, and that means you have to slap it around a little bit to get it to work well. (Tell that to my wife!) If you know your way around firearms already it's a good thing to have. But, if you're still learning, take whatever money you have and buy more ammo for the gun you already own. That Glock is a great gun to learn on. Work on learning and honing the fundamentals instead of buying another gun.
That being said, a .22 for shooting more and getting others involved isn't a waste of money. I have a Walther P-22 that I like quite a bit for that purpose. My wife loves shooting it and I get to shoot hundreds of rounds for next to nothing in cost. (Well, I used to be able to. Now I feel kind of bad shooting .22 since it's so hard to find.) The Walther is a good one and will better simulate your "combat guns" like the Glocks and 1911s, etc. Browning Buckmarks are great as are the Ruger Mk series.
I like armslist. I've had good luck with our Ohioans for Concealed Carry "for sale" section as well. In Cincinnati we have pistols and rifles starting to come back - and at pre-hysteria prices. Ammo is hit or miss and there's never any .22LR except when someone offers up a brick for $50+ or a few small boxes of CCI mini mags hit the shelves at $8 each. If you need ammo right now, you're in the wrong market. Better to have a buddy who knows someone who knows someone and is a friend of a friend, secret handshake, or do like I do - check the boards a few times a day and scour the earth for good deals!
If you're in Perrysburg, I'd recommend checking out the Sandusky County Sportsman's Club. I go up there for Appleseeds a few times a year and would like to get out to the Black Swamp Carbine shoots they have each month. A good buddy of mine is a board member out there and he's a top-notch instructor. They're having an Appleseed this weekend. You should totally check it out. Tell them slim sent you.
I bought this ammo as a "package deal" from a dude on our concealed carry site. I got 1,000rds of x39 in boxes, 700rds x39 in a spam can, and two 1,224rds x25 in spam cans all for $1,000. Dude felt bad about selling it to me "at such high prices" that he threw in a couple really decent little pocket knives as well.
I figured the x39 to be $.30/rd (just under current market value) and the x25 to be $.20/rd (about 1/2 of current market value... but over twice what he paid for them a few years ago) so it was a good investment at this time. I don't invest in paper products. I trade in precious metals!

Check out Project Appleseed.
I'm doing one this coming weekend at Camp Atterbury JMTC south of Indianapolis. We're all over the midwest. There are several events in Illinois. I shoot just about every weekend and there really aren't any ranges near my house either.

As promised... a pic of the Tokarev.


And here's one of me and my RUB wife shooting the AK (also Romanian - CAI AKMS) a few weeks ago.

I got the Romanian TT-C. It was only $265. Not a bad deal for a pretty robust handgun.

Pics.... on the way!

which TT did you get, actual Russian or copy? I ordered zastava TT few days ago myself

I found a smokin deal on some ammo so I bought two spam cans worth. Then, I had to buy a gun to shoot it. I went with the Tokarev TTC because of the price and it's resemblance to the 1911. Close enough for cheap training. So far, I've been pretty impressed with it. Loud! Accurate enough. Easy to shoot.

Great deal, overall. I'm too lazy to post pics.

Anyone else bought anything new lately?

And for Russians, this (getting a visa to their home country) is not even possible unless they have gone through the steps to renounce their Russian citizenship.
When the embassy told us they could not renew my wife's passport because they could not prove she was a Russian citizen (stupid), we then thought it might be easier to just renounce Russian citizenship. We asked about that and they told us sure, first she would have to RENEW HER PASSPORT and then do the paperwork and procedure for renouncing.

Funny before I went to Russia I didn't know tomatoes and cucumbers, cheese and cold meat were breakfast food. The only dish she has made so far I didn't like is shredded squash (which I got to shred by the way and it was like shredding a rock) OMG! It was terrible and I couldn't even stand the smell of it. Other than that I love the food there!

yes, i know. but flying from ny is still a bit less than flying around all of North America and some bits of western Europe.
flying in a straight line on a round earth....eventually the plane will leave the atmosphere lol. or burn up inside of it.

but it's sooo cold over there!

And when I am in America, I am thinking how soon I can return to Russia

You know what a Ukrainian 6 course meal is? Pork, potatoes, pork, potatoes, pork, potatoes.
As a native Texican I find Russian/Ukrainian food to be very mild, even bland. However most of it is very tasty! I like most of the salads, but not the fish salads or the salads made with beets/cabbage.
I love the Ukrainian meatballs (for lack of better term) blini with just about anything but my favorite is a Texan-ized version with pulled pork!
I do not care for most of the fish, but Alla loves fish and seafood so I often bake/broil shrimp, scallops, fish in a more normal American fashion. I leave the "stinky fish" to her by herself. I like Borscht which Alla makes often with meat, and she likes clam chowder! She is not a big fan of chili and in order for her to eat it, I have to leave out all the spices. No thanks! Some things just cannot be compromised!
Yes, we have a local Russian store and the proprietor is very good about knowing what his customers buy. If I am ever in there and forget which brand of something Alla buys, I can just ask him..."Oh, your wife likes this one" and hands me a can of stinky fish.
Try the Vereniki with cherries sometime! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Russian food tends to be very simple and natural, but NOT low fat/low starch. If you do not like pork, potatoes, onions and mayonnaise...do NOT marry a RUB woman!

Yes, marry a Kazakh instead as they do not eat Pork. They eat mostly Lamb with some beef and horse thrown in. Monti is a Lamb "ravoli" cooked on/in a mantovarka. Besbarmak, Lagman , Shashlik are all very good foods. The Kumiss (mare's ilk) is a bit much for me and I can only drink one glass--it it about like buttermilk to me. Shubat (Camel's milk) is a bit too acadic fir my lkiking, but the wife LOVES it. The best are the samsas as they are cheap, but if you buy them on the street they cost about 90 KTZ (less than a cent) but we typically call them mystry meat as you do not know what type of meat they use--and they are very greasy.
Dave

Honey, I can lose myself in your borscht, your pelmeni turn me on like a radio, and I can eat your potato salad all night long!

It wasn't exactly a move up.... but, my pay didn't change and I'm still working so who cares.
I like seeing the good side of my wife in boots too. Something about those boots. Hmmmmm.