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Yaroslavl: why we removed these guides
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Updated:10 min1,932 words

Yaroslavl: why we removed these guides

Here lay four pieces: a list of sights, a one-day itinerary, a selection of museums, and an overview of the temples of this Volga city. All four have been removed in every language version, and the old addresses now have permanent redirects to this page.

Let's start with what directly connects this city to the war. Within the city limits of Yaroslavl, the Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery operates, which Ukrainian drones attacked at least eight times in 2026, with one of the strikes taking a person's life. But even without this fact, the decision to remove the guides would not have been different: it applies not to a particular city, but to travel to a country waging war, and to the legal framework in which an EU-based publisher operates.

💡 At a glance:

  • which four pieces were removed and what they contained
  • which plant within the city limits Ukrainian drones attacked and why
  • what is known about the cost of publicly disagreeing with the war in any Russian city
  • which cities on major rivers in Central Europe remain in our live sections
  • Last updated: 09/2026

Why we deleted these guides

The four texts were structured as a set: a list of sites, a one-day walking plan, museums with 2021 prices, and temples with descriptions. All of this is the practical part, the reason people opened these pages in the first place.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022 (UN press release GA/12407, 03/02/2022). After that date, we consider it wrong for us to publish materials that organize a trip to this country. This applies equally to any of its cities, and in that sense the list of what was removed is not a ranking of anyone's guilt.

A brief word on money. The share of oil and gas revenues in Russia's budget fell to roughly 22 percent in 2025 and 2026, while the share of non-oil-and-gas revenues rose to roughly 78 percent (OSW Centre for Eastern Studies, 12/09/2025). A visitor's lodging, food, and museum tickets fall squarely into the second category.

A plant under attack and under sanctions

On August 6, 2026, Ukrainian drones struck the Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery in Yaroslavl, a joint venture of Rosneft and Gazprom Neft (which together control 99.7 percent of the parent company Slavneft), one of Russia's five largest refineries with a capacity of about 15 million tons of crude oil per year. This was the seventh confirmed strike on the plant in 2026: the previous ones occurred on March 28, April 26, May 8, May 22, July 6, and July 16 (The Moscow Times, 08/06/2026; Euromaidan Press, 08/06/2026). On August 28, 2026, another drone strike on the plant caused a fire and the death of one person (The Moscow Times, 08/28/2026).

Both owners of the plant, Rosneft and Gazprom Neft, have been under EU sectoral sanctions since April 2022 (Article 5aa of Regulation 833/2014: restrictions on access to capital markets and new debt instruments); in October 2025, the EU, the US, and the UK coordinated to tighten these restrictions, removing some previously applicable exemptions (Covington & Burling, 10/2025; freepolicybriefs.org, 12/08/2025). Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the strikes on Russian oil refineries, including Slavneft-YANOS, "long-range sanctions": Ukraine's campaign against oil refining infrastructure has driven Russia's oil processing volumes to their lowest level since May 2002 (CNBC, 08/06/2026; Kyiv Independent).

We cite this fact not as the sole reason for removing materials about this particular city, but as a concrete confirmation of the general rule: a plant within the city limits, deliberately and repeatedly attacked in 2026, with owners under EU sectoral sanctions. We make no claims about other local businesses, or about museums, and certainly not about residents: everything said below applies to laws in force throughout the entire country and is supported by citations.

What one public word costs

This is the part that holds equally true for the capital and for a city on the Volga.

Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, introduced on April 4, 2022, punishes public actions aimed at discrediting the use of Russia's Armed Forces (ARTICLE 19). In 2023 alone, at least 2,830 cases were opened under this article (RFE/RL, 31.12.2023). In parallel, Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code covers public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Armed Forces, with a maximum penalty under aggravated circumstances of up to fifteen years in prison (Human Rights Watch, 07.03.2022).

What this looks like in terms of detention numbers is known from data collected by the human rights project OVD-Info: 19,644 detentions of participants in anti-war protests, including at least 5,982 in the first five days, from February 24 to 28, 2022 (OVD-Info).

The most well-known sentence shows that geography offers no protection from these articles. Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced on April 17, 2023 to 25 years in prison on multiple charges. Among them were treason, "fakes" about the army, and participation in an "undesirable organization." The basis for the "fakes" charge was his speech before the Arizona House of Representatives on March 15, 2022, in which he condemned Russia's actions in Ukraine (Euronews, 17.04.2023). He was released in a prisoner exchange on August 1, 2024.

We mention this not as a scare story for tourists, but as a description of the environment in which this city exists, a city we previously wrote about in the light tone of a travel guide.

What this means for you if you are in the EU

Item

Status as of 09/2026

Source

Services related to tourism in Russia

Prohibited by Article 5n(2) of Regulation 833/2014 as amended by Regulation 2025/2033 of 23.10.2025

EUR-Lex

Transition period

Ended on 01.01.2026

Skadden, 11.2025

Public criticism of the army

Administrative Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses since 04.04.2022

ARTICLE 19

Criminal liability

Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, up to 15 years for aggravated offenses

Human Rights Watch

German Foreign Office advisory

"Vor Reisen in die Russische Föderation wird gewarnt"

Auswärtiges Amt

Risk of arbitrary detention

The German Foreign Office warns of this for German citizens and dual nationals

Auswärtiges Amt

Where to go instead

The search that brought people to these texts was for a large old city on a river: an embankment, merchant quarters, churches, and a museum you can drop into between walks. The live sections of the site answer that: Germany with Regensburg, Passau, and Koblenz on the Rhine and Danube, Czechia with Prague and Litoměřice on the Elbe, Hungary with Budapest and Szentendre, Poland with Toruń and Płock on the Vistula. We do not list specific sites and schedules here: that is the job of the live country sections.

The overall explanation for the decision across the entire section is collected in the section hub. Thematic neighbors on the same route: our position on Suzdal and our position on Kolomna.

Where we stand

We believe an honest text is stronger than a flashy one. The fact about the Slavneft-YANOS refinery is covered in detail above. Our decision rests on a general framework that applies equally to any city in the country. That framework includes a legal ban for persons from the EU, an official warning from the German Federal Foreign Office, and the structure of the budget that a visitor's money flows into.

We also do not consider deleting a guide to be a statement about the city. The city remains what it was; what changed is our attitude toward a genre that invites people to travel there.

We write about the state and its policies, not about people based on their passport. There are people in Russia who spoke out against the war and received prison sentences for it. Our decision not to publish guides to Russia concerns money, sanctions, and reader safety, not nationality.

Publication date: September 3, 2026. Last updated: September 3, 2026.

⁉️🤔 Frequently asked questions

If there is nothing bad to say about the city, why delete the guides?

Because the basis for the decision is not the city. For an EU person, providing tourism services in Russia is prohibited from January 1, 2026, and the German Foreign Office warns against travel to the country. This applies to all destinations equally.

What specific fact links Yaroslavl to the war?

The Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery within the city limits. Details about the strikes, owners, and sanctions are provided above in the "Refinery under strikes and under sanctions" section.

What does the Kara-Murza verdict have to do with this?

It shows the reach of these articles: the verdict was handed down for a speech delivered outside Russia. This describes the legal environment in which any city in the country exists, not a claim about a specific place.

Are you calling for a boycott of Russian cities?

We are not making demands of readers and are not compiling boycott lists. We made a decision about our own publications: not to release materials that organize a trip.

Where do the old links lead?

Here. In place of each deleted article there is an explanation and a list of destinations we continue to write about.

In short

Four articles about Yaroslavl have been deleted in full, and the old addresses redirect here. The fact about the Slavneft-YANOS refinery within the city limits is examined above. The basis for the decision is general: from January 1, 2026, providing tourism services in Russia is prohibited for an EU person, the German Foreign Office warns against travel, and a visitor's spending goes into the part of the budget whose share has grown to roughly 78 percent. Public disagreement with the war is punishable throughout the country: an administrative article since April 4, 2022, a criminal article of up to fifteen years, and 19,644 detentions at anti-war protests. Cities on major European rivers that we continue to write about are listed above.

How you can help

We do not collect money and receive nothing from the links below. These are official websites of organizations working with the consequences of the war:

Sources

Link check dates: 03.09.2026.

tourism.com.de Editorial Team
tourism.com.de Editorial TeamTravel editorial team: research, fact-checking, updates→ All publications

A small editorial team writing guides for independent travel. We travel ourselves, but we haven’t been everywhere, so we check prices, opening hours and how to get there against official sources.