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Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport

Moscow (Khimki, Moscow Region), Russia

International flights use Terminal C. Flights inside Russia use Terminal B (Aeroflot and Rossiya) or Terminal D (Pobeda and Smartavia). B and C are one joined building. D is a separate building to the south, and the train between the two groups is suspended, so you need a bus or a taxi to reach it. If both of your flights are international, you stay inside Terminal C and do not enter Russia.

Airport staff speak English at every airport in these guides. Showing the help card, or the title of the step you are on, is enough; you do not need the local language.

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Both flights on ONE ticket

Your bags go through. You only change planes.

  1. Leave the plane with all your hand luggage

    Take every bag you carried on board. If your checked bags were sent through to your final airport, you do not collect them here. Check your bag tag receipts. The airport itself advises you to check bags through to the final destination at the airport where you start, so ask for this when you check in for the first flight.

  2. Find out which terminal your next flight leaves from

    Look for the terminal letter on your boarding pass or ticket. International flights leave from Terminal C. Flights inside Russia leave from Terminal B (Aeroflot and Rossiya) or from Terminal D (Pobeda and Smartavia), so the letter matters. You can also look at the flight screens for your flight number, or point your phone camera at the QR code on your boarding pass: the airport's website then shows your departure terminal, gate and boarding time. If you cannot do this, show your boarding pass to any staff member and ask 'Which terminal?'.

  3. If your next flight is international, stay inside the secure area

    You do not go through border control and you do not collect bags. The airport's own page names the transfer checkpoint 'International Transfer Security' and says that after it you walk straight along the corridor through the duty free shops into the international departure area on the 3rd floor of Terminal C. We could not confirm the exact wording of the signs, so before you join any queue, show your boarding pass to a staff member and say 'Transfer'. Do not join the border control queue unless a staff member who has seen your boarding pass tells you to.

  4. Go through the security check again

    You and your hand luggage are screened again. Liquids must be in containers of 100 ml or less, and no more than one litre in total. At the screening point take off your coat, watch and metal jewellery, take metal items and phones out of your pockets, and put everything in a tray. Keep liquids and electronics separate; you may also be asked to take off your belt. Passengers with a disability or reduced mobility who booked the airport's escort are screened with priority.

  5. No boarding pass for the next flight? Ask staff where the transfer counters are

    The airport says Terminal C has check-in counters for transfer passengers, but its pages do not say where they are. Show your ticket or booking to the nearest staff member or to the information desk in the international departure area on the 3rd floor of Terminal C (open 24 hours) and ask for the transfer counters for your airline. Aeroflot has a desk in the same area, open 24 hours.

  6. After security, find your gate

    You come out into the international departure area on the 3rd floor of Terminal C. Look at the flight screens for your flight number and gate. Gates can change, so check the screens again before you walk to the gate. Boarding closes 20 minutes before departure, so be at the gate early. If you do not understand the screen, show your boarding pass at the information desk or to any staff member.

  7. If your next flight is inside Russia, you must pass border control first

    A flight to a Russian city leaves from the public area, so you must enter Russia. Follow the signs for arrivals to border control and show your passport, visa, health insurance policy and the migration card handed out on the plane. An Iranian passport holder needs a visa or an e-visa for this, arranged before the trip (see 'Passport control'). Ask your airline before you travel which route applies to your ticket.

  8. Terminal B: walk. Terminal D: take a bus or a taxi

    Check the terminal letter on your ticket. Terminal B is joined to Terminal C, so you walk inside the building and need no bus or train. Terminal D (Pobeda and Smartavia) is a separate building to the south, and the train between the terminals is suspended. The airport lists buses 817 and 851 and minibuses 948 and 949 between the terminals, or you can take a taxi. Allow plenty of time for this. If you are not sure where the bus leaves from, ask at the information desk on the 1st floor and show your ticket.

  9. If you have many hours to wait

    The airport says transit passengers without a Russian visa may stay in the secure 'clean zone' for up to 24 hours if they carry the boarding pass for the next flight. Inside the international departure area of Terminal C there is a paid capsule hotel, GettSleep, next to the Orion lounge, with hourly rates and a minimum stay of 3 to 4 hours. Free seating is around the gates. See 'Rest and comfort' for details.

Flights on SEPARATE tickets

You collect your bags and check in again. Allow much more time.

  1. Check at home whether you are allowed to enter Russia

    With separate tickets you usually have to collect your bags, which means leaving the secure area and entering Russia. Iranian citizens need a visa or an e-visa for this. An e-visa is applied for online at least 4 days before the trip. Do this before you travel, not at the airport. If you only have hand luggage, ask your second airline before you travel whether you can get the next boarding pass in advance and stay inside the airport, but do not count on it.

  2. Follow the signs for arrivals and passport control

    Leave the plane with your hand luggage and follow the arrivals signs. Border control comes first. A foreign citizen shows a passport, a visa, a health insurance policy, and the migration card that was handed out during the flight. Keep the migration card, you need it again when you leave Russia.

  3. Collect your bags and go through customs

    Take your bags from the belt shown on the screens for your flight. Free baggage carts are in the baggage claim area. There is no porter service for ordinary passengers; if you have a disability, the airport staff will help with your bags if you booked assistance. If a bag does not arrive, go to the Lost and Found counter in the arrivals hall and fill in a search form. At customs, if you have nothing to declare, walk through the green corridor.

  4. Go up to departures and check in again

    You are now in the public arrivals hall on the 1st floor. Check the terminal letter on your ticket. For an international flight, go up to the check-in counters in Terminal C on the 3rd floor. For a flight inside Russia with Aeroflot or Rossiya, go to Terminal B, which is joined to Terminal C, so you walk. For Pobeda or Smartavia, go to Terminal D, a separate building: the train between the terminals is suspended, so take bus 817 or 851, minibus 948 or 949, or a taxi. Check-in usually opens 2 hours before departure and closes 40 minutes before. Show your passport and ticket, drop off your bags, and keep the new boarding pass and bag tags. Information desks on the 1st and 3rd floors of Terminals B, C and D are open 24 hours.

  5. Customs, passport control and security again

    For an international flight you pass customs (green corridor if nothing to declare), then border control, where you show your passport, visa and migration card, then the security check. Have your boarding pass ready. Liquids must be 100 ml or less per container.

  6. Give yourself plenty of time

    We found no official minimum connection time for Sheremetyevo. On separate tickets you pass border control twice, collect bags, check in again and pass security, and there may be queues; if your second flight leaves from Terminal D, add the bus or taxi ride. This is our own advice, not an airport rule: plan at least 4 hours between landing and the next departure, and more if the first flight is often late. On separate tickets nobody has to hold your second plane for you.

  7. If you miss your second flight

    Go to your second airline's desk or check-in counter straight away and show your tickets; a new ticket or a change is the airline's decision. Aeroflot's desks are on the 3rd floor of Terminal B (public area) and in the international departure area of Terminal C, open 24 hours; its call centre is +7 (495) 223 55 55 in Moscow or +7 (800) 444 55 55 inside Russia. The airport also has ticket offices; ask at the information desk where they are. Keep your airline's phone number with you.

Passport control

If you change planes at Sheremetyevo and your next flight is also international, you do not need a Russian visa. The Russian embassy in Tehran says a transit visa is not needed 'in case of a change of planes in an airport of the Russian Federation with a transit area, providing a subsequent flight to a destination country within 24 hours from the arrival date'. The airport's own FAQ says transit passengers without visas may stay in the secure 'clean zone' for up to 24 hours and must carry a boarding pass for the next flight. So you must stay inside the secure area, you must have your next boarding pass, and your next flight must leave within 24 hours of landing. If your wait is longer than 24 hours, if you must collect bags, or if your next flight is to a city inside Russia, you have to pass border control and you need a visa. The embassy says Iranian citizens can apply for a single-entry Russian e-visa online at electronic-visa.kdmid.ru at least 4 calendar days before entry, for tourism, business or private visits; it is not a transit visa. Russian consular pages say that for applications made from 23 August 2025 the e-visa is valid 120 days with a stay of up to 30 days; the Tehran embassy page still shows the older 60 days and 16 days, so check the current terms when you apply. At border control a foreign citizen shows a passport, visa, health insurance policy and the migration card handed out during the flight. Keep the migration card; you need it again when you leave Russia.

Getting around

The airport has a northern group of terminals, A (business aviation), B and C, and a southern group, D, E and F, next to the Aeroexpress train terminal. Terminals B and C are one connected building, and the airport says transit passengers move between B and C through the transit area without leaving the secure zone, so no transport is needed between them. The two groups used to be linked by an underground automatic train, the 'inter-terminal passage', but the airport's page says that since 6 June 2022 the trains are 'temporarily suspended until the transfer service between Terminals D, E, F and Terminals B, C is resumed', and the notice was still shown on the day we checked. Terminal D is open: on the day we checked, the official timetable showed about 20 domestic departures and 20 arrivals there, all Pobeda and Smartavia. Terminals E and F showed no flights. To go between the B and C building and Terminal D, the airport lists buses 817 and 851 and minibuses 948 and 949; a taxi is the other option. Allow time for this. Ask at the information desk which stop to use and show your boarding pass. No official walking times inside Terminals B and C were found.

Wheelchair and special help here

Ask your airline first: Russian rules say you must tell the airline about your disability or need for help when you book, and the airport says its assistance is tailored to what you reported to the airline. You can also order the airport's own escort service free of charge on the svo.su website or by phone on +7 (495) 578 65 65; the airport asks for this three days before departure. If you ask only when you arrive, the airport says you may have to wait and could miss your flight. Before you fly to Moscow, ask the airline representative at the check-in counter of your departure airport to tell Sheremetyevo you are coming; the airport says this 'arrival confirmation guarantees that you will be promptly met'. If you fly Aeroflot, you can also call its Moscow call centre on +7 (495) 223 55 55 or the Russia-wide number +7 (800) 444 55 55; we could not read Aeroflot's own assistance pages.

On arrival, airport staff meet the passenger at the aircraft and help after all other passengers have left the plane. For the rest of the journey the airport says it accompanies you through border, customs and security checks in priority order and to the gate. If nobody meets you, ask at the nearest information desk (24 hours, 1st and 3rd floors of Terminals B and C, including the international departure area of Terminal C) or call the disability assistance dispatcher on +7 (495) 578 65 65. Help call handsets marked with the wheelchair sign are at all terminal entrances. Free 24 hour lounges for passengers with disabilities: Mercury Hall (Terminal B, public area, 1st floor) and Orbit Hall (Terminal B, departure area, 3rd floor). Orion Hall (Terminal C, international departure area, 3rd floor) is listed as open on one official page and 'temporarily closed' on another, so ask at the information desk whether it is open; the same applies to Saturn Hall (Terminal D, public area, 1st floor). Sirius Room (Terminal E) is listed as closed. To use a lounge, ask at the information desk and show your ticket and a disability certificate.

The escort service is free and includes help with hand luggage, a wheelchair to the gate or to the seat, priority at control and screening, boarding before other passengers and leaving the plane after them. The airport also offers escort without a wheelchair for an elderly passenger. If you only need a wheelchair to move around without an escort, call the dispatcher on +7 (495) 578 65 65. You are served without a queue at the check-in counters. Airport staff will also take you to the lounge and from the lounge to the gate. The airport's pages do not say whether the escort continues automatically between two flights on a connection, so ask for help on both flights and ask the airline to confirm it in the booking.

Where to ask for help

Information desks are open 24 hours: Terminal B on the 1st floor (public area) and 3rd floor (public area and domestic departure area); Terminal C on the 1st floor (public area) and 3rd floor (public area and international departure area); Terminal D on the 1st and 3rd floors. The desks give flight and transport information, help passengers with disabilities arrange an escort, and have a self-service boarding pass printer on the 3rd floor of Terminals B and C. The airport call centre is +7 (495) 578 65 65, 24 hours. The airport's Telegram chat is answered by operators who speak Russian and English. The official airport app is on the App Store and RuStore and shows flight status and a map. Pointing a phone camera at the QR code on a boarding pass opens the flight page with terminal, gate and boarding time. Free airport Wi-Fi '_Sheremetyevo Wi-Fi' needs a phone number: you receive a code by SMS or by a call, so it may not work without a working phone. Medical posts are free and open 24 hours: Terminal B, 1st floor, left wing, office 1.245 (+7 (495) 578 47 12); Terminal C, 1st floor (+7 (495) 578 77 09); Terminal D, 2nd floor. Lost and Found is on the 1st floor of Terminal B. Aeroflot, which flies between Tehran and Sheremetyevo, has desks on the 3rd floor of Terminal B (public area) and in the international departure area of Terminal C, open 24 hours; its call centre is +7 (495) 223 55 55 in Moscow and +7 (800) 444 55 55 inside Russia. Whether Persian is spoken at any desk is not stated.

Rest and comfort

Inside the secure international departure area of Terminal C (3rd floor): the paid GettSleep transit hotel with capsules and mini rooms, hourly with a minimum stay of 3 to 4 hours, open at any time, next to the Orion lounge, reached by walking straight through the duty free corridor; the airport says it is suitable for transit passengers without a visa. Also in that area: a currency exchange office at gates 138 to 139 and an information desk. The free Orion lounge for passengers with disabilities is in the same area, but one official page lists it as temporarily closed, so ask at the information desk whether it is open. In the public area, before passport control: the GettSleep capsule hotel on the 3rd floor of Terminals B and C, hourly from 3 hours; the Sleep Lounge on the 3rd floor of Terminal C, open 24 hours, with single and double rooms by the hour; currency exchange offices in the arrival halls of Terminals B and C and at the baggage claim of Terminal C; ATMs on the 1st floor of Terminals B and C (all ATMs are in the public area, not airside); a Sberbank branch in Terminal B, weekdays 9:30 to 18:30. The airport lists a Muslim prayer room on the 1st floor of Terminal C, with no opening hours given; the 1st floor is the arrivals level, so ask staff whether it can be reached from the departure area. Christian chapels are in Terminals B and E. Free airport Wi-Fi needs a phone number for a code. Medical posts are free and open 24 hours (Terminal C, 1st floor). Family rooms for passengers with children under 7 are in every terminal. On money: the airport's pages describe exchange offices and ATMs and mention UnionPay cards at shops in an older text, but say nothing about Iranian cards or Visa and Mastercard, so carry enough cash and ask your bank before you travel.

My help card

Print this page, fill in the lines by hand, and keep the card in your pocket.

I am traveling alone. I need help to find my connecting flight. Please show me the way, or call someone who can help me. Thank you.

You can type the details here before printing. They stay on this device only.

Partly checked against official pages.

What we could not confirm (20)
  • The same-ticket route inside Terminal C (stay airside, 'International Transfer Security', corridor through duty free) comes from the airport's Russian-language GettSleep hotel page and a 2021 press release, not from a dedicated transfer guide; the airport's English 'Connections' tool on svo.su showed no departing flights when we tried it, so we could not read its step-by-step output.
  • We could not confirm the exact wording and colour of the transfer signs in Terminal C; only 'International Transfer Security' is named on an official page.
  • We could not confirm where the transfer check-in counters in Terminal C are, or their opening hours; a 2021 press release gives only their number, 11.
  • We could not confirm when the inter-terminal train will run again or whether Terminals E and F are open: the official 'Between terminals' page still shows the 6 June 2022 suspension notice, and the timetable showed no flights at E and F on the day we checked. Terminal D showed about 20 domestic departures and arrivals (Pobeda and Smartavia) that day, but no official page describes a transfer route from Terminal C to Terminal D, so the bus and taxi advice comes from the airport's general 'Between terminals' page.
  • We could not confirm that the 24 hour transfer lounge in the clean zone of Terminal F, or the GoSleep capsule hotel and the V Express hotel in the transit zone of Terminal E, are open: the 'Sheremetyevo today' page and the hotel pages still list them, but Terminals E and F showed no flights, so do not count on them.
  • We could not confirm whether the Orion Hall (Terminal C) and Saturn Hall (Terminal D) lounges for passengers with disabilities are open: each is listed as open on one official page and temporarily closed on another, so ask at the information desk.
  • Aeroflot's own pages on transfers and on assistance for passengers with reduced mobility (aeroflot.ru) could not be opened: the site returned 'access temporarily restricted' from outside Russia, so no Aeroflot advance-notice time or transfer rule is given here; its phone numbers come from the airport's Aeroflot page.
  • No official minimum connection time was found for Sheremetyevo; the 4-hour separate-ticket figure is plain advice, not an official rule.
  • Whether the airport's escort service continues automatically from the arriving flight to the departing flight on a connection, and whether an escort meets a transfer passenger at the aircraft door without a prior request, is not stated on an official page.
  • Whether Iranian or other foreign bank cards work at Sheremetyevo shops, exchange offices or ATMs is not stated on any official airport page we found; an older airport text mentions UnionPay at shops, and the Bank of Russia pages we saw talk only about Russian-issued cards abroad. Plan to pay in cash rubles until you can confirm this with your bank.
  • Whether the currency exchange office at gates 138 to 139 of Terminal C accepts Iranian rials, and its opening hours, are not stated.
  • Opening hours and exact position of the Muslim prayer room on the 1st floor of Terminal C, and whether it can be reached from the international departure area without passing border control, are not stated.
  • Whether Persian or Arabic is spoken at the information desks or the call centre is not stated; the airport says its Telegram operators speak Russian and English.
  • We could not confirm the Russia-Iran visa-free scheme for organised tourist groups from an official page; it was seen only in news reports, and it does not cover a person travelling alone in any case.
  • The e-visa terms conflict between official pages: the Tehran embassy page says 60 days validity and 16 days stay, while kdmid.ru consular pages say 120 days and 30 days for applications from 23 August 2025. We could not read the government decree itself.
  • We could not confirm the current status of the 'ruID' rule: the Tehran embassy page describes an experiment from 30 June 2025 to 30 June 2026 in which foreigners entering Russia without a visa had to register in the ruID app at least 72 hours before entry, with entry on a visa or e-visa unchanged. That period has ended, no extension was found, and the page does not say whether a transit passenger who stays airside was ever affected.
  • The official Terminal C guide PDF on svo.su is image-only and could not be read, so no gate ranges, walking times or floor plan details for Terminal C are given.
  • Whether wheelchair users or older passengers can use a fast lane at the transfer security check is not stated; the airport says only that escorted passengers with disabilities get priority at control and screening.
  • We could not confirm which route Mahan Air flies to Sheremetyevo: the airport's airlines list names Mahan Air but gives no route.
  • We could not confirm the GettSleep transit hotel's minimum stay: the airport's English page says from 3 hours and its Russian page from 4 hours.

Airports change signs, gates and rules. This guide is general help, not an official instruction. Always follow the staff and the screens, and check with your airline.

Last prepared 5 November 2026.

Where this comes from (36)