Border crossing via train Kiev to Moscow

Dear fellow posters, I have 2 questions. I'm hoping to take the Stolichny Express from Kiev to Moscow.
In order to properly apply for my visa I will need to know the time I cross the Ukrainian/Russian border. So I have the proper arrival date on the visa.
Also, what paperwork should I expect to receive on the train, or ask for, so I have no trouble leaving
Russia via airplane. I assume there is some form I'd get at the airport that I'll need to keep with me and
have upon departure. Will train personel be as diligent with this paperwork? I thank you in advance for your advice.

The pozeda.net website doesn't give the border crossing towns but you can figure it out from the schedule since the stopovers will be much longer in two adjacent towns than you would expect. The die bahn website gives the names of the border towns if you expand for the specifics.

You should get all the necessary paperowrk when you cross the border by train. It should be no different entering by train compared to entering by plane.

It is NOT the train personnel that provide the paperwork. At each stop immigration and customs officials from Ukraine and then Russia will board and check your papers.

Ruth

You do NOT need to know the exact time. Unless you intend to stay for the entire maximum of 30 days in Russia you can always put the day before as your arrival date. Russia does NOT insist that you arrive by the day your visa starts, but the 30 days it's valid for do start on that day whether you are there or not. Many tourists put on their applications that they are going to enter on day X and leave on day Y 30 days later but in fact may arrive 1 week after day X and leave 1 week before day Y, for example, just to give themselves a 30 day window so they have a little flexibility with their plans.

Ask the russian guard for a migration card when he/she comes to check your passport.

If you're carrying more than USD 3000 ask the customs officer for a deklaratsia.

The border corssing takes quite some time. Don't worry about being waved through and then not having the right paperwork. Russian border guards and waving through do not go together.

You may have been confused by stories of the trains from Belarus to Russia. Belarus has a customs and migration union with Russia, so there are no border guards on these trains.

Unless it is essential that you have the maximum possible term for your visa, I'd just apply for one that starts on the earlier possible day of your arrival - there's nothing stopping you from entering Russia after the commencement date of the visa.

The only paperwork you're likely to need is a migration card. (You used to have to fill in a customs declaration as well, but now only have to do so if you're carrying several thousand dollars' worth of cash.) You fill in the two halves of the migration card with the same information, and border control takes one half when you enter. The other half is used for registration stamps while you're in Russia, and must be handed in when you leave, so needs to be kept safe.

Certainly on the train from Helsinki to St.Petersburg, it is the train staff who give out the migration cards, so you have time to fill it in before the border. It may be different travelling from Ukraine though.

If for any reason you don't get given a migration card and need to ask, the Russian for it sounds like migratsio'nnaya karta.