you have to have an "external passport" to cross russian border. it's almost equal to your main passport (your id), that you get for free the "ext passport" you have to renew every 5 years and it costs $50 ten years ago or so, you had to waste several days standing in different queues, just to obrain it. and ofc. it's only opened two days a week, 5 hours a day. there was this standard commieblock with one stairway taken by the gov-t offices, the queue started at 5th floor and it was down the staris all the way to 1st floor, and then going around the corner on the street. luckily it was mid summer - very warm. if you don't wanna stay in the queue, they accept bribes. haha however they fixed this stuff. nowadays you make an online reservation and there's all-in-one-place gov-t website you can request a service. also "external passport" lasts 10 years if you pay extra fee
Russian Federation