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Foreign travellers are obliged to register with local authorities within three business days of their arrival in Russia. Changes introduced in 2007 make the registration process simpler and faster, and for the vast majority of travellers registration should require from them nothing more than to provide their passport to their accommodation provider - hotel or apartment landlord - who will then take the necessary steps to register them (in some cases for a small fee). You can see a sample copy of the form that has to be completed and stamped in the registration process here. The traveller is then issued with part of the form - a tear-off coupon - as proof of registration during their stay. This coupon has to be returned to immigration authorities after your departure, so your accommodation provider may give you a stamped photocopy rather than the original document.
If you are staying with friends - on a Private Visa or a Tourist Visa with support from an agency - registering is just as simple. The owner of the property where you are staying should go to a post office or local immigration office and fill out the same form. They may be required to show documents proving that they are indeed the owner of the property in question. They will then be issued with a tear-off coupon to hand to you. Again, they will have to return this to immigration officials after your departure (within 24 hours) so make sure that you don't lose it.
If, for whatever reason, your accommodation provider is unwilling to register you (despite their legal obligation) there are always agencies in large cities that will register you for a fee.
By law, you are supposed to re-register if you change your place of accommodation during your time in Russia and stay at a new address for more than three days. Again, if you are staying in hotels or renting apartments through an agency, this should all be done for you automatically on arrival. Otherwise, you should ask your accommodation provider to follow the same procedures as mentioned above. This is particularly important if you are staying in more remote areas, where lack of local registration is more likely to be noticed.
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