Driving Through Russia Without A Visa: The Saatse Boot
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- Опубліковано 6 бер 2016
- In the south-east of Estonia, there's 800m of road where you can drive through Russia without a visa. We drove it. BONUS PARK BENCH: We Got Pulled Over By The Estonian Military: • We Got Pulled Over By ...
This video has a correction: Further research revealed that the camera tower Matt spots is, almost certainly, just a regular cell tower. Or, at least, that's what they want us to think. For all corrections on this channel, see www.tomscott.com/corrections/
I'm at tomscott.com - @tomscott on Twitter - / tomscott on Facebook - tomscottgo on Instagram
MATT is at mattg.co.uk or @unnamedculprit everwhere
PAUL is @cr3 on Twitter
This video has a correction: Further research revealed that the camera tower Matt spots is, almost certainly, just a regular cell tower. Or, at least, that's what they want us to think. For all corrections on this channel, see www.tomscott.com/corrections/
Thx
Thankyou. You are very dedicated to making sure your videos are accurate!
Wow still corrected a video posted three years ago! Amazing
Tom Scott
Interesting!
Thank you (and everyone helping) for making all your video's.
Greetings,
Sam (with a dutch A, but that doesn't really matter, anyway, thanks!
Ahh, ooookayyy, yea I see. Cell tower, right.
The video with an error is still up. Hmmm.
That's what they want us to believe
Yes, I know this is technically a clickbait title. But it's a clickbait title that delivers, damn it.
I never think of anything you make as clickbait lmao
I want to like this but its at 666
This is clickbait? I guess this explains why your video titles are never even slightly clickbait.
wow swear ii ng
@The secular humanist yes it is
I lived in Värska and our summerhouse is behind Saatse, so I can answer your questions.
You can pass that area with a bike. Still, you should not put your leg on that ground- you can get a ticket.
If you are passing that area on very low speed (like, under 10km/h), border guard might stop you and take you to their headquarters for questioning. There are many smoke smugglers and another criminals so they might think you are one of them.
If your car should break down, stay in the car and call the police and ask for local border guard to come to you. They will help and you won't get a ticket or put in jail. If the Russian border guard should see you, you better know russian so you can explain what happened.
If you are going to pass that area on foot- just don't. If anyone sees you, even some random local people, they will call boarder guard and they will be there in less than 5 minutes.
Long story short - you can pass that area with any vehicle, but you can not put your foot on ground. If you do, beg that no one sees you.
And.. there are no cameras on that mast. Cameras and sensors are hidden near borders, like on trees.
Thank you
Thanks Cap!
Thank you
What if i'm riding a bike and it breaks in Russia?
You go to Siberia then.
Obligatory: "Papers, please."
GLORY TO ARSTOTZKA
your papers are out of date DETAIN
Ostsol to GULAG
Ostsol Cobrastan is not a real country
Bork Laser You don't detain for expired papers.
Dammit, now I cant stop imagining someone driving through that forest playing YMCA at full blast with the windows open...
Hahahahaha
Same here
I can drive through Russia without a visa. I wish I could get out though.
+Ярослав Ерохин Don't we all? Getting a Schengen visa is a simple and quick task, but a permanent solution would be neat.
*****
Well, unfortunately it ain't gonna help in the foreseeable future. We're too busy pretending to be relevant.
Technically that's "into", not "through".
Pedantic distinction until you're locked up in russian jail.
Snowden got in without an advance visa. I suppose you could copy his procedure.
estonia has a law that If u find a job that pays atleast 1000€ or something u can work in estonia as long as u keep the job, and If u really want you can get estonin citizenship and If you don't like estonia you can live anywhere in EU as estonian citizen
I like to think the tower was just a huge pole with a platform at the top, and on the platform was a guy with an RPG, just PRAYING that you'd stop.
+WrathOfMega A reeeeally bored guy. ^_^
+WrathOfMega Or that you would slow down juuusssttt enough for him to get the shot. i mean, you just blew up the evidence :)
with heavy russian accent "da, make my day"
Now that looks like a job worth signing up for!
It's just some people with an RPK aiming down at cars and as soon as someone stops, they spray them down so much that the car will look like a prop at a shooting range gallery.
Another anticlimax: you can get a cruise to Saint Petersburg, spend day in Russia and leave in the evening with the cruise ship, all without a visa. To be precise, you can spend total of 72h there if you reserve a room from hotel beforehand.
Actually, as someone who has done this, you actually have to book an excursion and stay with the excursion while in St. Petersburg. So you can't reserve a hotel and you have to leave with the cruise ship back home, AFAIK.
DutchAver
I have done this as well, and no you don't have to stay with the excursion. You just have to enter and leave on the cruise ship and book a "tour", which really is just transport from the harbour into the city. Then you can do whatever you want as long as you stay in the city.
I am in russia without visa and i want to cross the border.. please how can i do it?
@Mor Dor that's true tho. But can't surrender my self rather i prefer to get cut while trying! Thanks.
Or you can go to Saint Petersburg Florida and just act like you’re in Russia during the summer time...
0:07 "If you're a British tourist, Russia isn't easy to get in to. You have to book your travel, then request a formal invitation from the hotel you're staying at, and then apply for a visa weeks or months in advance."
If you're from MOST countries in the world, this is true for almost anywhere you go.
I think the bar is slightly different when talking about European countries though
@@Smitology in europe you can legit just walk across the border into another eu country and nobody cares most of the time
@@Robosiumthanks to the Schengen agreement, as an Italian I can go anywhere in Europe except for Switzerland and the UK with just the ID, like, if I'm going to France there's no border guards or douane or anything like that
I'm from Estonia and I can confirm one thing: you are allowed to ride a bike through Saatse boot. I haven't done it myself but a friend of mine has.
He has done it several times and I know other people have done it as well. You can cycle through the 'boot' but you cannot stop or get off. It's not heavily guarded by the Russian border patrol but they still do keep an eye on it.
+Rebasepoiss Also the "don't enter"-sign only had a pedestrian on it, not a bicycle or anything else.
I found an Estonian news article that goes into more depth. You can ride a bike, or even a mule-drawn cart, as long as you don't get off of it. It's only gravel, because Russia won't allow it to be paved. If your car breaks down, they'll check your car, then give you fuel or tow you back. The "boot" itself is a farm, that was claimed by Russia after WWII. The farmhouse is still there.
I am in russia without vis and i want to cross the border. How can i do it?
@@emidonendfx149 Go back home!
GOOD THING YOU DID IT 6 YEARS AGO
I can just imagine the Russians asking why you’re there.
“Oh the three of us just decided to to get in the car and film this little stretch of road. It’s for
youtube.”
“Who would watch such mundane things? You British spies think you can fool me?!”
I liked when it was 68 and now it became 69. Nice.
Except most FSB border guards hardly speak English, adding to the awkwardness
@@martinfrostnas6610 *gruffs in vodka*
why wouldn't you do something stupid to get arrested
it'll get you maximum value for your travel:
one week estonia
20 years siberia
value!
Worth it
+arie brons 20 years in Russia without visa. Seems like a good deal.
You get to live in Russia by not being allowed to live in Russia!
why wouldn't we do something stupid to get arrested
it'll get us maximum value for our travel:
one week estonia
20 years siberia
value!
20 years Goolag*
One feature UA-cam definitely needs is "You're subscribed to this channel from ", because I have no idea how this got into my subscriptions.
Have a like.
+Dryued Same! I have literally no idea. I'm not even sure I ever subscribed. The videos just started showing up, i swear to god
+Dryued Numberphile -> Computerphile -> Tom Scott
+Mona A -- Me too. It's no big deal, though. Maybe I accidently subscribed to Computerphile and that somehow does it.
"And I am sorry for the existance of from , and I will be careful in the future when I'm doing so again. Thank you."
If you haven't seen that, that must sound really weird.
There's actually another similar situation in which EU citizens can pass through Russia. The Saimaa Canal (built when Finland was still part of the Russian Empire) joins the Baltic Sea to the Finnish lake system through Russian territory and, as long as you have a passport and don't leave your boat, you can sail through Russian without the need to go through the visa process.
t.. that's true for every country.
national waters do not count as *land*
*go figure*
Hello from Russia :)
We are not as scary as you might think. However the "boot" is often used for contraband, thus the no-stop regulations.
If you stop there for technical reasons, your car is most likely to be searched for contraband and other illegal stuff, and then estonean border guards get called to fuel or transport the vehicle with russian ones' permission.
Please don't go out to take a selfie with the "no walking" signs - in past years russian border guards were known to freak out and arrest people "just in case", getting you all the way into Russia and having you spend quite some time while they check your identity, you pay fine and actually get out of there. Nowadays they've gotten used to tourists and most likely will just escort you out.
As for what you do in your car while on russian land - nobody cares, well, unless you make a scandal out of it. So don't worry.
Play the long con and have the estonian border guards actually smuggle the contraband.
Fabian it is plausible actually. I think some of them are really doing that
What happiness if the car breaks down (as in do they still arrest you?)
@@isaacmoraesdornelasdesouza4830 Nope, unless a Russian border guard appears straight away, you call the Estonian police at +3727861770 (some officers know English) for further instructions. Do NOT leave the vehicle unless explicitly told to.
@@martinfrostnas6610 oh cool thx!
Anticlimax?
What, were you expecting to have to slow for wild T-90s crossing the road or something?
Nah, maybe some tamed T-72 passing by
Many tank crossing is normal for Russian.
At least an onion dome would be appropriate.
@@shafwandito4724 if the road is next to the bloody proving ground, yes. But then again, you would see the exact same thing around Bovington or in general Salisbury area.
That is all to say, not bloody likely.
@@heinrichb well it depends, if you live near airports or military bases, then seeing tank/apc convoys is common as hell
You are presenting this `Going through Russia` as some very very very scary thing. I couldnt even imagine what would have happened if i just used a boat to come to GB without a visa.
You get paid, because obviously you are an assylum seeker, and then you can do whatever, because you haven't yet gotten used to the culture
@@tktspeed1433 You have literally no idea how hard it is to get asylum and how difficult life is for those who manage to get it.
@@eshansingh1 well, atleast it should be easy to live with the amount of money you get
@@eshansingh1 it's easy enough if you cover your skin in shoe polish and pretend not to understand English. If you have no ID on you and they can't identify your country of origin, they will have nowhere to deport you to.
@@tktspeed1433 Easy to live on? It's 36.95 a week. less than 2000 a year, and you are not allowed to work.
do you think that 2000 a year is easy to live on?
Actually you can go to Russia from Estonia visa free for up to 3 days.
If you take a ferry from Tallinn to Petersburgh, given that you have a valid passport, you can stay in Russia for up to 72 hours.
The same goes for ferries from Helsinki.
So if you'd want to make a quick trip to Russia without going through all the VISA application process, you can fly to either Finland or Estonia and take the ferry from there.
Your comment is inconsistent with the others below the video. From reading those, we see that Russia is an authoritarian, xenophobic, police state, and American is the Land of the Free. You must be incorrect about the 72-hour grace period.
@@Nehmo а ты думаешь, что он не прав?
I cycled through there one week ago, still possible and a cool place! Felt a bit sketchy though but was no problem
Hi Tom, since I'm early I want to take this opportunity to say that I find your videos very interesting, absolutely love them. Your voice only helps.
But no one replied
Double Games but you did
OOHHHHHH
One way of getting into Russia without a visa is jumping on a passenger ferry travelling from Tallinn, Helsinki or Stockholm to St. Petersburg. The passengers (and crew) on the ship are regarded as an organised excursion group, so a 72-hour visa free stay is allowed. And there is still a big pile of forms to fill before entering the country, though.
Tom: "you can't just arrive on the plane and ask to let you in"
Me: *laughs in Serbian*
Haha. I love how you get to a "thump!" on a bad part of the road just as you say "Russia!". Perfectly summed :D
same thing happens crossing the border from Maryland into Pennsylvania 🤣
Drive one mile an hour while blasting The Village People and then run out of gas when you're about 10 feet away from Estonia.
Actually their are multiple ways to get into Russia without a visa thoug!. You can enter all major Russian port cities (Archangelesk, Kalingrad,Sevastropol, Sint-Petersburg, Vladivostok) without a visa if you are on a cruise (for a visit up to 72 hours, while residing on the boot I believe). Their is a canal called the Saimaa Canal that was build in Finland during the final decades of Russian Rule. After Finland declared independence their were two wars between Finland and Russia, resulting in Finland having to cede the province of Karelia and with that loosing sovereignty over part of the canal. But Russia and Finland later made a deal that allowed the Fins to use the Russian 20 km stretch of the canal visa-free !
Sevastopol is a Ukrainian city. What cruise are you talking about? There are no touristic cruises to Crimea due to sanctions.
@@niqolas it is still a major cargo hub
When seeing "Through Russia", I had expected it to be in the direction of China, not back into Estonia. But then again, I should expect this from you by now.
I crossed the boarder to russia by accident...coming from Finland and guess what? The boarder police was so nice they even invited us on a drink in their office....no joke!!! We even took a group photo including the watchdogs!!
We get very badly influenced by our governments about how crazy and dangerous Russia can be but the reality is mostly very different...Russians are nice people !!!
pol1250 slavs in general are much more chill. You can do silly stuff how you want
Of course, then you could get the one border guard that just got cheated on by his wife.
Don't be irrationally afraid of the Russians, but by the same token, don't poke a tiger. They're within their rights to make an example out of you if you're doing something illegal, so don't intentionally test the line, eh?
So long as it's an honest mistake, and you're not acting suspicious, you're probably going to be ok. Hopefully you speak the local language though!
That sounds exactly as nice and broken english as a comment would be if you were forced to write it by the Russian military.
Russian's are generally nice, Russian gov's haven't been so nice. My experience with USSR border guards as a kid with a British passport traveling through East Germany to get to Berlin by car was scary. I won't dispute Russian's are lovely people. I'd love to know why that doesn't translate into sane governments.
@@ImDemonAlchemist the red scare is strong with thee
I can drive through any bit of Russia I want! Without a visa!
Because I'm Russian citizen
Lucky
"I'd get my zoom lens out but I'm not doing that on the Russian border" nice
as an Estonian, with only 1.3m people, it is always nice to be mentioned in a channel like this :)
57.8 degrees North. I live in Northern Scotland at the same latitude and it's crazy how much more Artic it is in Estonia.
That's how hard is to get UK visa for me, so I don't even bother.
It's not THAT difficult to get a Russian visa. All you do is call a visa agency pay a fee (the agency takes 25% on top) post them your passport via special delivery and it comes back 15 days later with a Russian visa in it. They do the invitation stuff for you.
You can get one 3 months in advance. I've had a unlimited entry business visa in my UK passport for the past 7 years. The only restriction is you need to have some sort of visa before hand that isn't unlimited. Plus they have transit visas at Moscow airport if you have a flight ticket out you can roam for a day or two before catching your connecting flight.
Even the visa registration isn't enforced much. I travelled all the way across Russia registering my visa in Rostov (late by 8 days) and not registering it again until I got to Vladivostok.
In all honesty, this sounds similar to getting a Standard Visitor visa to the UK - although you do have to provide a rather extensive history of your travelling in the past 5 years as well as proof of ties to the country of application such as your employment contract, tenancy agreement, residence permit, etc. As long as UKVI is satisfied that you aren't going to stay in the UK due to your ties abroad and can financially sustain yourself, you're good. Unless the Schengen visas, the shortest Standard Visitor visa lasts 6 months.
@@heinrichb The Russian 'visa' just exists as tit for tat spite. No real checks are done, so it's much easier than a Russian getting into the UK or USA. It is however very irritating and stupidly expensive.
we can't stop here, this is mordor
"They catch you, they *catch you!!*"
+bobbyfearfactor Best.
It's things like this that make road tripping so fun
the german subs are a bit wrong, i think the translator has some trouble with punctuation and the difference between Visa (credit card) and visa (the paper you need to enter a different country)...
I think I have fixed most errors. Now we need to wait until someone approves my changes. They were partially really wierd. :)
+Mr. Tux awesome
Tbh, i thought they are the same thing, just one for you and the other for your money....
Since I found this comment, could someone explain to me what a visa is? The paper, not the credit card.
@@AjarTadpole7202 permit
As someone who lives in a country without land borders (Australia), I have always been fascinated by unusual borders between countries, and how people are allowed to travel across those borders.
I love how there's snow as soon as you enter Russia
Blasting The village from the car speakers with open windows while going through Russian border is something I would totally do.
"We are not bloody finding out" just made me giggle.
There is a busline in Helsinki that starts in Helsinki goes trough Vantaa (the neighbouring town) and comes back to Helsinki. It used to be that there was different tickets for Helsinki and one that allowed you to travel both in Helsinki and in the neighbouring towns. So if you had your inside Helsinki ticket and went on that bus where the line started you could not get out till the final stop. I used to use that line often and every time it felt like going through some occupied area you can't get into.
That's actually really interesting. But why? I've always been really oddly fascinated with these arbitrary lines we draw that surround and separate countries. It's weird, because nothing's actually any different when you go from Estonia to Russia, but there's a weird giddy feeling when you cross borders.
Often such borders are drawn on ethnic lines and it used to be for Estonia as well, until Russian SFSR took some lands from occupied Estonia in 1945. But basically the whole Estonian-Latvian border follows ethnic lines, although they are completely arbitrary in the physical context.
***** I'm sorry, but you as a Canadian might not understand that. In the Old World defining ourselves on ethnic background is the norm. There is no question on whether the person is a Latvian or an Estonian, unless they are both if they are from a mixed family. And there is a very clear ethnic border that correlates with the border between two countries.
***** Nationalism is what has kept our nation together, that has kept us from assimilating into the bigger group, that has won us our independence!
I don't know how anyone here victimizes minorities...
How it's not different? People are different, language is different, religion is different, money is different, even road signs are different
Well, you're crossing line between two halves of the world's nuclear arsenal, there's have to be some border.
Lucky for me as a Hong Kong passport holder, we can stay in Russian for 14 days without a visa.
Tom, You seem to be shocked that Russia doesn't allow people to come in whenever they want to, but only Europe doesn't see this problem. America and the rest of the world also needs a visa that can take months, even years to take. And the boarders are even worse then Russia.
The Mexican boarder is miles of barb wire fence with active police patrol. And the Canadian boarder is a line of cut down trees all alongside the Canadian boarder.
And im not saying its wrong, im just mentioning the fact that you are picking Russia as if its the only one doing this. So I am assuming you have never been to america.
And for those who will say "America does this because it has a immigration problem!" Russia has the second most amount of immigrants in the world...
+robert karas British people can visit the US without a visa. Provided they don't look brown
very interesting, thank you!
nice road trip Tom
Tom what's your job?
UA-cam.
ive been asking myself that for a while now :D
+Ryksy Spy
+KingLeatherBelly Wut?
+Ryksy Don't tell Putin.
As some Estonians have noted in the comments, there are actually TWO locations on the road with these restrictions, the Boot, and a 20m section of the road about 1.5 kms north of the Boot. Also, the road is now apparently paved and marked with road markings.
"we just drove thru a bit of russia without a visa"
... then got stopped by Estonian military
This video would be so badass if it was posted this year.
You really make videos of things I don't know!
for me, going to Estonia is as hard as going to Russia is for you, and going to Russia for me is as easy as going to Estonia is for you. I'm from Belarus :)
yes for 3 months at a time only. as for Lithuania or the rest of the Schengen area, you will need to apply for a visa weeks in advance with ton of conditions depending on the type of visa, like having hotel reservations and at least 8 grands in a bank account.
Could you give me an estimate of how many (young) Belarusians have ever been to Lithuania?
@@FrozenAmy isn't the border between Belarus and Russia open?
@@IblameBlame it is
Knowing russians the guard probably wasn't even there
Vodka break
They are sneaky af,the borders are not controlled only by humans but secret cameras attached to the trees
@@twatenthusiast3660 Dude why did you respond to a year old comment, the guy who left it is probably dead by now.
There's a tiny part of Russia on that same road pretty soon after the Saatse Boot (driving north). It's only maybe 15 meters long but same rules apply to it. You can drive a bicycle but can't stop (too bad if you fall or your bike breaks down).
Found it, they've marked the no peds or stopping for 50m.
things that you wouldn't dare do in 2022:
1:39 legal...legal...legal... ILLEGAL. ILLEGAL
I"ve always wondered those questions what you brought up! Breaking a law from the other side of the border
Came to this video because of the thumbnail. It looks like you've got Jim from the American version of The Office riding with you.
You can stay 3 days in St Petersburg without a visa if you go by ferry
when you were stoped there, the border patroll sayed "tervist" (it kinda sounds like tourist) wich means hello in estonian, and you guys thought he sayed "tourist?"
I needed to google-translate it, couldn´t believe it. But yes and thank you for widening my knowledge :)
Tavaline päev, vaatan subscription listi. Tom Scott uus video, jess. EESTIS :D ? Väike üllatus selle kohapealt.
That is not the type of road conditions I want to experience if the punishment for a break down or accident is a week in a cold cell.
The video is actually about a _leniency_ in border control, yet most comments (aided by Tom's cold-war attitude) seem to feel it confirms their concept of a xenophobic and authoritarian Russia.
BTW, the easiest place (statistically) to get a cold cell is in America.
We have the same visa problem visiting England. The most problems come from US Visa with month of waiting and personal interview.
This video is mad close to 1 mill
Yeah, when I saw this I was like:
"That's one of those no stop things right?"
Several countries have this, and it makes no sense.
I just saw an advertisement for tom Scott on Tom Scott's channel
what if you did doughnuts in the middle of the road because technically you wouldn't be stopping
If anyone’s wondering if (i) the events of 2022 have changed or closed this route (ii) what happens if you drive through in a UK-plated vehicle and (iii) what happens if you stop straight afterwards for selfies with your dog in front of the scary sign.
The answer to all three is absolutely naff all.
I thought that you couldn't even go here anymore. Not because of the war. I thought Estonia closed off this area to non locals
@@benwyatt7619 Is there a purpose to this comment?
@@grahamparks8885 Um yes, I am responding to you?
You said that this route is still open and you can drive through in a UK vehicle. I thought this area is now closed off to non-Estonian or non-Russian citizens, and has been for around 5 years.
My ultimate goal in life is now to drive through the Saatse Boot blasting You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) and the Village People out of my car at full volume.
The thumbnail makes me think of a mum and dad with a bewildered child in the back seat
Your a lot braver than I would have been. I would have gotten the VISA and tried to get one of the closest hotels invitation I could just in case I did get stopped.
You guys should try to find some people to play citation needed with, you could make a series "Citation Needed Abroad"
the answer to those questions is: don't fuck with russia.
I would have wanted to meet you when you were in Estonia.
OK, part of me wants to drive through the Saatse Boot blasting Hey Mum by Body with a car full of Drag Queens flying the Rainbow Flag while Cosplaying Sailor Uranus.
I like that.
Or you will find Putin waiting for you when you are ecscorted back to Estonia with bears
Add Girls/Girls/Boys to the playlist. I'll join you.
It is also technically possible to drive through territory Syria claims as its own, without needing a tourist visa: the Golan Heights, which can, for most people, only be accessed from Israel proper.
***** There are so many land disputes around the world, with a lot of them unlikely to be resolved anytime soon.
i am from georgia and if you are a georgian citizen you are a citizen of all of eu and all of ex sovie tcountries its awesome
I think you can also cycle across the border. At least between the border of Finland and Russia.
Awesome. I think I'd be rather nervous about the car breaking down :p
When I clicked the vid I thought there was 2 toms
To clarify, you don't need to book your travel before applying for a Russian visa. In fact it's recommended that you don't.
No wonder the country is so big with such a small amount of people. They won't let anyone in.
Have you produced a video of the Airport which serves 3 nations? I just arrived at it this week and I have so many questions about it works. I would like to be lazy and watch you explain how it all.
Huh, I had no idea there was a place like that boot shaped area.
GLORY GREATEST
Its so bizzare seeing how big of a deal simple drive through Russia can be for foreigners as a russian xD
Nice! You were in the baltics
From Finland, you just get on the Allegro train. In three hours, you arrive in St.Petersburg.
Man, what a time
Wait... YOU WERE TO ESTONIA.. for a second!? Why didn't I know!!
;(
Wanna impress fans?!!? Do this one again today! Intensity level set to maximum!!!
You're wrong there - all you need to get into Russia is a visa. Even if hire British. Or from any other country. It's not the USSR anymore. Source - I'm American and live in Russia, used to on a visa, now have a residence permit.
POTKC but for the Visa itself you relatively need a lot of paperwork compared to visas for other countries, even the simple tourist visas
Why would you move to Russia from the US? That's quite interesting.
Getting a Russian visa nowadays requires an invitation from within the country, either from a hotel (booking) for tourist visa or from a Russian citizen for a private visa.
Wow Tom you founded a Bug
cool
I really didn't find it that hard to get into Russia... just think how hard it is for them to visit the UK.
+NobleBrutus Except if they are political refugees.
Wait...
Not anymore!
Was there yesterday and was told you'll hardly be arrested these days for e.g. walking through the boot, just given an angry lecture and handed over to Estonian police. Years ago it was far more tense, but they've got used to tourists by now. The Boot is popular with smugglers though, so that's another can of worms.
*You cannot walk there, because the floor is lava*
Mad lads
I *want* to say that this has aged well, but given that it JUST popped up in my recommended feed, I dunno...
I imagine they would probably just escort you out if you broke down