Thread: package restrictions

hope this is the right forum, read the descriptions.. thought this was best

I recently sent a fake christmas tree to russia (ekaterinburg), with little trouble.. 2-3 business days, got there in 2.. was amazed really

did it at US postal office.. one of the things the lady asked me was "does customs need to inspect this?" or something to that effect, and I said "no" and she said "are you sure" and i said "yes"

well, after all, it's just plastic and metal! and you could see what it was on the outside of the box.. also, you write a brief description of what it is on one of the forms, so I put "fake christmas tree"
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now, there are some more things I want to send... but I'm worried about how she asked about customs. I tried looking on the US Postal service website, found lots of stuff about other countries, but nothing on russia.. as if they don't really care, which is the impression I got after my recent trip there (I beeped in metal detectors and they didn't even search me, I registered my visa without showing my voucher, stuff like that..)

but I'm intending to send some headache medicine (along with other things, a CD, something for hair, memory card), and I think things concerning drugs can get tricky? this is just excedrin...

so finally, my question: anyone have information on sending drugs to russia, or more specifically, how strict their customs is? should I write "medicine" on the package description, or pretend it's not there? this was ekaterinbrug, not moscow or st.P, and they seemed verrrry relaxed there when I visited..

much <3 for any info

All I know is, Claritin is illegal. One of my classmates had a mailed package seized at customs because it had Claritin in it.

Many drugs that are legal in the US are illegal in Russia - Ritalin springs to mind.

odd.. I brought some store-brand claritin and had no problems (well like I said, they didn't bother checking me at all), and the family I was with knew of claritin and I think they said they had their own? could be mistaken though

I know they don't sell Ibuprofin (motrin) over the counter in Russia, but you can bring it in with no problem at all.