How to Buy Train Tickets in Russia Despite the Sanctions

Planning a train trip across Russia from abroad has become significantly harder since 2022. The official Russian Railways website (RZD.ru) no longer accepts Visa or Mastercard, and it’s also blocked across much of Europe. The good news is that there are still ways to buy tickets — but the landscape has shifted.

In this guide I’ll walk you through the five real options you have today: three you can use from home before your trip (RussianTrain, Tutu and Belarusian Railways), one that only works if you already have a MIR card (RZD.ru directly), and one for when you’re already in Russia (the station ticket offices). Each has its pros and cons, and I’ll tell you which one fits which kind of traveler.

This is step 3 of my guide to planning a trip to Russia in 10 steps, where you’ll find everything else in order.

Why you can’t buy directly on RZD.ru anymore

Before 2022 it was simple: you’d open the Russian Railways website, pick your train, pay with your Visa or Mastercard, and get the ticket in your inbox. That path broke with the sanctions, and today you run into three barriers:

1. RZD.ru only accepts cards from the Russian MIR system. Any Visa, Mastercard, Maestro or American Express issued outside Russia is rejected at the payment step, even though the website loads and works fine up to that point.
2. The site is blocked in many European countries. To load it, you need a VPN that simulates a connection from Russia.
3. The English version doesn’t let you complete the purchase on some flows — for certain trains, the final booking form only appears in Russian.

The practical consequence is that the cheapest option — buying on RZD.ru at the official price, commission-free — is only realistic if you already have a MIR card. For everyone else, it’s time to look at the alternatives.

Booking online before your trip

1. RussianTrain — the easiest option (with a commission)

• Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese
• Ease of use: very high
• Commission: roughly 20% to 30% over the official price (varies by route and class)
• URL: RussianTrain

RussianTrain is the trading name of Anyday Travel LLC, a Russia-based company that operates as an authorized RZD subagent. The ticket you buy through their platform is the official Russian Railways e-ticket: same car number, same seat, same booking in the central system. It’s not an intermediary voucher — it’s the real ticket.

What you get in exchange for the commission: an interface in English (or your language of choice), payment with a foreign Visa or Mastercard without a VPN, the e-ticket delivered as a PDF to your inbox, and customer support in English.

The commission varies a lot. On very popular routes (Moscow–Saint Petersburg on the Sapsan, for example) I’ve seen margins of 20–25%. On overnight trains or long-distance routes it can climb to 25–30%, and on Trans-Siberian segments occasionally higher. That’s the price of sorting out the booking in ten minutes from your sofa.

👉 I’ve written up everything about RussianTrain — how it works, which routes it covers, payment options and how to cancel — on the dedicated RussianTrain page.

2. Tutu — official tickets with a foreign card (via Belarus)

• Languages: Russian only (use your browser translator)
• Ease of use: moderate (Russian-language site, payment via a Belarusian gateway)
• Commission: variable service fee, lower than RussianTrain (around 5–15% depending on the ticket)
• Cards: Visa, Mastercard and Belcard
• URL: Tutu

Tutu (tutu.ru) is one of Russia’s biggest online ticket-selling services: it has been running since 2003 and sells the official Russian Railways e-ticket, just like RussianTrain, with the same car number and the same seat booked in the central system. The problem since 2022 was the usual one: its Russian site wouldn’t accept foreign cards at the payment step.

That has changed. Tutu now lets you pay with a foreign card —Visa, Mastercard and Belcard— through a Belarusian payment platform called travelfly.by, which charges in Belarusian rubles (BYN) and handles the currency conversion. You search for and book your train on Tutu and, when you reach the payment step, the transaction goes through that gateway. In the image below I’ve marked where the foreign-card payment option appears.

Tutu’s big advantage over RussianTrain is the commission: instead of 20–30%, it charges a noticeably lower service fee (usually around 5–15% depending on the ticket price and route, and you can see it before you pay). The big drawback is that the whole platform is in Russian only, so you’ll need to switch on your browser’s automatic translator (Chrome and Edge do a decent job) to get through the booking and payment process.

Two important heads-ups: because the charge is made in Belarusian rubles, an unusual currency, it’s worth calling your bank in advance so they don’t block the transaction; and, since you’re paying in a currency other than the euro, your bank will apply its own exchange rate. Even so, for most tickets it works out cheaper than RussianTrain.

3. Belarusian Railways (RW.by) — near-official pricing

• Languages: Russian and Belarusian only (use your browser translator)
• Ease of use: moderate to low (registration required, plus translation)
• Commission: minimal — essentially RZD’s official price
• Cards: Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay and Samsung Pay
• URL: rw.by

The official Belarusian Railways website also sells Russian train tickets at prices almost identical to RZD’s. The big upside is the price; the big downside is the interface: it’s only available in Russian and Belarusian, so you’ll need to turn on your browser’s automatic translator (Chrome and Edge do a decent job on Cyrillic sites).

The process: you need to register with an email address and confirm the account before you can pay. Payment is processed in Belarusian rubles (BYN, symbol: Br), so give your bank a heads-up in advance so they don’t block the transaction as ‘unusual currency’.

This is the best option if you’re looking to save money, don’t mind navigating a Cyrillic-script website, and can spare half an hour for your first booking (the next ones go much faster).

4. RZD.ru directly — only if you have a MIR card

• Languages: Russian, partially English
• Ease of use: high if you’re comfortable with your browser’s translator
• Commission: none, official price
• Cards: MIR only
• URL: rzd.ru (VPN required)

If you have a MIR card, the cheapest route is to book directly on RZD.ru. You skip the commission, you have the full catalog at your fingertips, and there’s no middleman in the middle.

If you don’t have a MIR card yet and you’re thinking of getting one, I explain how at this link.

To reach RZD.ru from outside Russia you’ll need a VPN; I explain which ones work best in my VPN guide for Russia.

This option makes sense if you’re planning a longer stay, multiple trips, or you were already considering getting a MIR card for everyday payments in Russia.

⚠️ Tickets.kz no longer sells Russian trains

Until 2025, the Kazakh website Tickets.kz was selling Russian train tickets at a very low commission (5–10%) and was one of the most widely recommended alternatives. It now only sells tickets for Kazakh railways and a handful of routes to Uzbekistan, not routes within Russia. I’ve kept this section here as a warning because I know a lot of people land on this page searching for ‘Tickets.kz Russian trains’.

Options once you’re in Russia

5. The ticket office (kassa) — the most flexible route

Once you’re in Russia, the station ticket offices are a perfectly viable option. Every major station (Leningradsky, Kazansky and Yaroslavsky in Moscow, Moskovsky in Saint Petersburg and so on) has windows open 24 hours a day where tickets are sold at RZD’s official price, with no commission.

Advantages:

• Official price, no intermediary commission
• No VPN or MIR card needed
• You pay in rubles in cash (or with a MIR card if you have one)
• You can pick the car and seat in person, and even ask for cars with a well-positioned window
• Useful for last-minute changes

Disadvantages:

• On very popular routes (Moscow–Saint Petersburg in summer, Friday-to-Sunday Sapsans, Trans-Siberian in high season), seats may be sold out if you turn up without a reservation
• Staff don’t always speak English (though more and more do, especially in the larger stations)
• You’ll need to bring rubles in cash, so you’ll have had to exchange currency beforehand

How it works in practice: bring your passport, walk up to the window with the destination, date and time of the train you want. The clerk shows you the available options, you pick, you pay. The ticket you receive is identical to the electronic one.

For more on Russian train stations and how to get around them, take a look at my guide to train stations in Russia. And if you need to exchange euros or dollars for rubles before heading to the station, I cover it in where to exchange dollars or euros for rubles.

Quick comparison

Option	Where	Commission	Difficulty	Card	Best for
RussianTrain	From home	~20–30%	Very easy	Foreign Visa, MC	Travelers who want to sort it in 10 minutes without hassle
Tutu	From home	Variable, lower (≈5–15%)	Moderate (Russian-only site)	Visa, MC, Belcard (via Belarus)	Travelers who want an official ticket with a foreign card while paying a lower commission
RW.by	From home	Minimal	Moderate (Russian-only site)	Visa, MC, UnionPay, Samsung Pay	Travelers after near-official prices who don’t mind translating a Cyrillic site
RZD.ru	From home (with VPN)	None	Moderate	MIR only	Travelers who already have or plan to get a MIR card
Ticket office	In Russia	None	Low to moderate	Cash rubles / MIR	Travelers who prefer to pay on arrival
⚠️ Tickets.kz	No longer sells Russian train tickets

Use RZD.ru as a search tool (even if you can’t buy there)

Even though you can’t pay on RZD.ru without a MIR card, the website is still the best reference for checking schedules, browsing the different train types (Sapsan, Krasnaya Strela, Rossiya, Lastochka…) and verifying official prices. Use it to plan your itinerary before booking on RussianTrain, Tutu or RW.by.

All you need is a VPN to get in. Once you know which train you want, switch to the booking platform of your choice and reserve with the same details.

Frequently asked questions

Can I pay on RZD.ru with a Visa or Mastercard?

No. Since 2022 RZD.ru only accepts cards from the Russian MIR system. Visa, Mastercard, Maestro and American Express issued outside Russia are rejected at the final payment step, even though the website loads and works fine up to that point.

What’s the cheapest way to buy Russian train tickets from abroad?

Belarusian Railways (RW.by) sells the same tickets as RZD at almost identical prices, with a minimal commission. The downside is that their website is only in Russian and Belarusian, so you’ll need to use your browser’s automatic translator.

How do I pay for Russian train tickets with a foreign card on Tutu?

Tutu now lets you pay with a Visa, Mastercard or Belcard through a Belarusian payment platform, travelfly.by, which charges in Belarusian rubles and handles the currency conversion. You book the official RZD ticket on Tutu and complete the payment through that gateway. The site is in Russian only, so you’ll need your browser’s translator, but the commission is lower than RussianTrain’s.

Can I just buy the ticket at the station once I’m in Russia?

Yes, easily. Station ticket offices sell tickets at the official price with no commission and accept rubles in cash or a MIR card. The only caveat is that on popular routes (Moscow–Saint Petersburg, Trans-Siberian in summer) seats can be sold out if you leave it until the last minute.

Why does Tickets.kz no longer sell Russian train tickets?

Tickets.kz has narrowed its offer to Kazakhstan’s rail network (and a few routes into Uzbekistan). It no longer sells routes within Russia, so the recommendations still circulating on travel blogs are outdated.

Do I need a VPN to use RW.by?

No. The Belarusian Railways website loads normally from any European country. A VPN is only required for RZD.ru.

What happens if my bank blocks the payment in Belarusian rubles?

It can happen, because BYN is an unusual currency in international transactions and anti-fraud systems are sensitive to it. The fix is to call your bank beforehand and let them know you’re about to make a payment in that currency. With that heads-up, almost every bank will let the transaction through.

Which option should you pick?

• Want speed and simplicity, and don’t mind paying 20–30% more? → RussianTrain
• Want an official ticket with a foreign card while paying a lower commission than RussianTrain? → Tutu
• Looking for the tightest price and happy to navigate a Russian-language site? → RW.by
• Already have or planning to get a MIR card? → RZD.ru directly
• Prefer to buy once you’re in Russia? → Station ticket office

For most travelers making their first trip to Russia and who only need one or two tickets, the convenience of RussianTrain is worth the extra cost. For more experienced travelers with time to plan, or for longer stays, the other four options let you save real money.