u/Hot_Gap2020

Travel to Ukraine when one of your citizenships is Russian

Hey guys, I'm an American citizen (29F) who supports Ukraine, and I feel extremely nervous asking this question in front of this crowd but here we go.

I was born and raised in Russia and moved out to the US when I was 17 years old. Since then, I've never lived, studied, or worked in Russia, and the last time I visited my remaining family there was before 2022. I don't plan to travel to Russia at all in the future unless the political situation there changes for the better and the war ends.

I also briefly lived in Ukraine as a child and always really enjoyed the country, its hospitality, culture, and always wanted to go back eventually and explore the historical cities such as Lviv and generally the western part of the country.

When the war started, I told myself I'd been an idiot for not doing it sooner and that I would visit as soon as it was over to support the Ukrainian economy and tourism and fulfill that old wish of mine.

Do you all think it would be exceptionally unwise of me to visit the country with my US passport? I'm under no illusion that I'd be able to hide my Russian citizenship of course. I don't have an active Russian passport, but I was told by the Ukrainians that I know that I would still likely be detained for an interview with SBU, and potentially denied entry (their right to do it, of course).

What do y'all think would realistically happen if I went? I mean on the border. In the country I assume it would be fine if I only spoke English and my limited Ukrainian.

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u/Hot_Gap2020 — 3 days ago