I‘ll definitely need help with this once I reach Moscow. Last time I was changing VPNs constantly because they were all stopping to work after a while. I need a stable long-term solution so I can work with western clients while I‘m in Russia. If I can keep your contact, I‘m willing to pay just to it right as I‘m not a developer.

By the way, has anyone considered transferring gold in Russia? It might be a viable wealth transfer option instead of going with crypto or cash. 😊

And with the proper documentation that comes with transferring gold, I hope it‘s doable.

crypto is much safer. I'd be personally concerned declaring gold in the airport

Yeah, but crypto is illegal in Russia, no? Because if I end up buying a flat, how would I declare the origin of my money? This is what troubles me.

By the way, this is a hypothetical talk. I‘m talking about a 100g gold. But I‘d like to think that I‘ll find a way to save enough for a flat in Moscow. by 2027. 😊

this country is very difficult to follow the law, you can start getting used to it now.
my personal experience, i've bought lots of stock and expensive cars, when stock broker & car dealer ask me to fill papers on where the money come I tick "other" box.
since you're not a tax resident, they cannot and are not intersted in investigating your taxes

nobody asked me "how you transferred your wealth from europe to russia". Not even sure if they are legally obliged to know, what's the difference?
Maybe tax man will ask you proof of income in your other country to confirm you indeed had these money not stolen, but this is again not about how you transfer money.

Why I'm against gold - the country is safe, but it is not stupid-proof. Information travels fast here, private information gets sold all around. By simply providing a russian chat bot a phone number or a full name, it'll give you all the personal details: full home address, cars owned, bank deposits owned. The privace here is non existent. Even when you arrive, the border control will ask you to give them a full access to your phone, they'll go into your Telegram and start reading private messages between you and your wife (happened to me 2 weeks ago after a Dubai trip).
So.. imagine in a safe country some people know you're carrying $400k worth of gold. Even with low crime, you're asking for trouble, both legal (the gov will look for all opportunities to extract it) and illegal. I'd rather not.

In any case, buying a property - you most likely want to consult a lawyer, a property broker, and locals - this is a serious purchase not to be taken lightly.
I've grown my Russian inner circle pretty big - my wife is Russian, most of my friends are here, and I also established a russian Ltd company in 2020 to reduce my consulting taxes.. , so if you need help there - let me know.

It is a very complicated prosess I would say… The easiest one is to find a Russian person who can give you a physical local SIM card that is registered on that persons name.

Apply for Tinkoff bank account. They do open bank accounts for tourists and then they can also come to your apartment and give you a SIM card but they will take your biometric data (voice and photo) to open SIM card on your name 🫣