[boatsun]

There are at least two reasons I can think of why it is better if your agency has somebody there to help you.

The traffic is insane in Russia, there doesn't seem to be many rules of the road and the police there can pull you over for any "reason" and it can be expensive if they do. Driving in Russia is like trying to figure skate during a pro hockey match.

When we travel to Russia we usually have several grand on us and they know it. It would not be hard for somebody to pick you up and rob you. If the person who robbed you was connected, the police there wouldn't even care.

We had a driver and facilitater drive us from one side of the airport to the other. I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head, but the international flights were on one side and the domestic were on the other.