Caravanistan

Hi I am just looking for some clarification. As I have been unable to find the exact answer. I am currently in Ulaanbaatar and about to apply for a Russian transit visa with the following Itinerary (providing I get the bus booked as far as I need in advance...) Ulaanbaatar to Ulan Ude by Bus. Over night train Ulan Ude to Irkutsk, Then spend 30 hours in Irkutsk (this is the part that I am worried about as it will be a longer than 24 hour transfer time). Then a touch over 2 days to Semey in Kazakhstan.
All up I will be spending 5 days traveling roughly 3000km. I understand I fall within the 500k/day requirement and I would prefer to spend an extra day at Irkutsk but I am nervous about a 48 hour stop over or is this not an issue?

The 500km requirement is only if you're travelling by your own car. If travelling by train, you'll have to use the fastest connection available from the City where you board the first train to Russia to the destination of the train you're leaving Russia with. When travelling by bus, it will be somewhat similar, while they won't make you try to make a 30-min-connection from your bus to your train, 24 hours is usually not permitted EXCEPT if the bus/train you're leaving Irkutsk with runs so seldom that you habe no other choice, which is not that uncommon in Russia.

Ok thankyou for clarifying this. The trains I am looking at have about 8 transfer time hopefully this will be ok now.

I just got back from the Embassy and for a transit visa you can only have one transfer. So Ulaanbaatar to Kazakhstan is alittle more tricky now. As if you take the bus you stop at ula ude for first stop and I could not locate a direct train from there over the boarder.

That's interesting as I recently got a Russian transit visa with two changes in Russia. I applied in Frankfurt, not in Ulanbataar though. The obvious workaround is going by train from Ulanbataar to Irkutsk, although this will probably be quite expensive.

Seems each embassy applies the rules a bit differently.
https://mongolia.mid.ru/en_GB/consular actually says you may stop for up to 2 nights, but only once.

Take a direct train from Ulan-Ude to Petropavlovsk in Kazhakstan, there should be several daily! Also you can cancel tickets booked on rzd.ru for a small fee (about 200 RUR I think) and get a refund. So I guess I'd show them the 2 night rule on their website and see if they accept, then book the ticket from Ulan-Ude to Petropavl and once the visa is issued - it should state only the days and the countries, ie from Mongolia to KZ - travel any way you want ...