Seaplane – I appreciated your blog and the subject matter. I was motivated to add my experiences and comments to a discussion of the topic.

First regarding The Crimea as I assume we are both US citizens I would start with the additional aggravation that has existed since the spring of 2014 – the US State Department forbids US citizens from travelling to the Crimea (and the Donbas as well for perhaps more obvious reasons).

15 years ago I submitted and processed a US K1 ‘fiancée’ visa. More correctly I should say I retained an immigration attorney to do it for me. That did not mean however that the process was easy, or quick, or obviously cheap. Even with 'expert' legal representation the processing of that K1 visa took 18 months and it was a rather dismal period in the lives of two people for those 18 months. It also makes me wonder how long it might have taken if I had no legal representation in the matter.

(Am I really to believe you speak fluent Russian but you did not know that a US citizen needs a visa to enter the Russian Federation)?

Anyways, again I appreciated your blog.