Russian Road Safety Requirements - Stay on the right side of the Law

"Where to buy a fire extinguisher in Vladivostok"
This was something I googled both in English and Russian and then spent a good few hours trying to work out what shop carried the equipment we needed to be road legal. I found many results, none of which lead me to what we needed - a small fire extinguisher to carry in the boot of our car.

If you're in a similar situation and need a fire extinguisher or any other road safety equipment for your car in Russia you can follow this link, this is a company called Giper Avto which I think translates to Hyper Auto in English.


Giper Avto [гиперавто] is a chain of consumer automotive supply shops. For Irish or UK people think Halfords without the bicycles. GiperAvto carries all required safety equipment as well as things like windscreen washer fluid (trust me you will need this), oil, fuel tanks, car stereo components, dashcams, spare bulb sets, etc. They have stores in most major cities/towns from Vladivostok to Ulan Ude.

Recommended Safety Gear for Trans-Siberia
Along with your trusty fire extinguisher you will also need a first aid kit, tow rope and a set of spare bulbs to be road legal. All of these can be bought in GiperAvto.

If you're driving across Russia I would also recommend picking up some or all of these non-compulsory safety/emergency items:

• A small air compressor. Know the weight of your car and size of your wheels then ask the sales guys for the appropriate size. 

• A can of tyre inflation foam. This stuff is very handy and could get you to the nearest Shinomontazhe (tyre shop) without having to change your wheel so long as you're not on one of the more remote stretches of highway.

• Portable battery bank/charger. This is essentially a jump-starter kit, instead of using another car battery you use this handy battery you can keep in your boot.

• 20litre fuel tank. Get a plastic one, there will also be steel tanks for sale but these could have bits of rust inside where you can't see or bits of loose steel from poor manufacture.

• Windscreen washer fluid. There are an incredible amount and array of insects and bugs along the Trans-Siberian highway during the summer months. The windscreen washer fluid will help keep your windscreen clean. You will still need to clean with a cloth after each long drive though, many of the bug splatters are too tough for the windscreen wipers and fluid alone. You can also buy a little spray gun of windscreen washer fluid this is like a high powered household window cleaner. It's dirt cheap and you will definitely need it. 

All of these items are available in GiperAvto at very cheap prices compared to Western Europe or Australia. We carried all of the above and the most expensive item we bought on the above list was the battery bank which cost the Ruble equivalent of about US$50 and doubles as a convertor/clean power source for laptops or other sensitive electronics.

The stores are branded green as per the below image. If you don't understand Cyrillic (you really should at least take the time to learn this if you're planning to drive across Russia) the name looks like 'Runep Abmo'.

As you can see below they sell fire extinguishers.

If you're lucky you might even get there on a Casual Friday.

How to find an automotive store in Vladivostok
First go to the GiperAvto website then click on 'Magazini' [магазины] on the landing page. You will then be met with a page like the below screen shot.

I recommend using Yandex maps or Navitel to find these places in Vladivostok as Google Maps is not all that accurate in Far Eastern Russia. It may sound like I work for these GiperAvto guys, that is not the case. I have no affiliation whatsoever with them but found that they are the easiest, and perhaps only, place to find consumer automotive gear in the Far East & Siberia.

Do I Really Need a Fire Extinguisher to Drive Across Russia?
We had been warned that stops by traffic police for no apparent reason other than to check your documents are common all over Russia and that with a foreign registered vehicle we would be highly likely to be stopped at every available opportunity.

At these routine traffic stops a DPS [ДПС] (Road Traffic Police) officer may decide to check if the vehicle is carrying all required safety equipment. The RAC advise that this could lead to an on the spot fine but notes that these fines must be paid through a bank. In our experience on the spot fines are generally paid in cash and vary depending on your haggling skills. Buy a fire extinguisher, it'll cost you about US$5 which is about half the lowest 'fine' you can expect to pay.