---
type: Person
title: Vasili
description: The Kalmyk driver who takes Harry the seven hours from Elista to Grozny — stopping for camels, towing a stranded stranger 200 km, and refusing a tip.
tags: [russia, kalmykia, chechnya, driver, hospitality]
timestamp: 2026-08-05T12:00:00Z
---

# Vasili

A taxi driver from Kalmykia who drove Harry and [Leon](/people/leon.md) the
seven or eight hours from [Elista](/places/elista.md) across Dagestan to
[Grozny](/places/grozny.md), for 18,000 rubles. Harry's verdict, delivered
straight to camera at the end of the ride: one of the nicest taxi drivers he has
ever met, and if you come to Kalmykia you must find this man.

He speaks no English and the whole journey runs on hand signals, a few words and
a translate app with no signal. It works.

What he actually does with the drive is the reason he's here. He turns a toilet
stop into an expedition — putting Harry on the back of a stranger's motorbike
and sending them across open country to see camels. He detours through his own
home town. And on finding a broken-down Chechen driver at the roadside, he stops
unprompted and tows him 200 kilometres to a town with a repair shop, which
happens to be on the way.

Two details Harry keeps returning to: Vasili drank no water and stopped for no
toilet break across the entire drive, running on two energy drinks; and when
offered a tip at the end, he didn't understand what it was for and tried to
refuse it.

*Obs: Harry says on camera he'll put Vasili's number in the description. It
isn't there, so no contact details are recorded here.*

## Appears in

- [I Went to the Most Feared Place in Russia - Chechnya 🇷🇺](/videos/mcDuqVPzdfY.md) —
  the drive from Elista to Grozny.