Foreign businessmen traveling through Sheremetyevo II airport say they are growing increasingly frustrated at massive passport control delays and a range of infrastructure problems.

Many rate Moscow's No. 1 airport as the worst in Europe, pointing to dirtiness, poor lighting and general shabbiness on top of passport control problems. Some are even suggesting the problems may be due to corruption.

"[Sheremetyevo II] is the worst possible thing for the image of Russia," said Andrew Somers, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, adding that first-time visitors get the impression that nothing has changed in Russia since Soviet times.

"And the Russian government does not understand that," Somers said, adding that he has tried to discuss the issue with Russia's top officials, but there has been no progress.

"This is not a good introduction to Moscow," said Thomas Kelly, a partner at Andersen in Moscow. "All the airports in all the former Soviet Union countries are better. It hurts the image of the city for tourists and businessmen," he added.

Foreign businessmen based in Moscow, many of whom travel to and from Russia every week, point out that of five or six passport control booths at Sheremetyevo II more than two or three are seldom open, and, as a result, it may take a passenger an hour and a half to pass through passport control alone, which results in flight delays.

"The situation does have an impact on us," said a spokeswoman for Delta Airlines, the only foreign carrier that conducts non-stop flights between Moscow and New York. "Our flights are often delayed and the situation is extremely bad on weekends when a lot of charter flights leave."

"Things have never been quite as bad as they now are," said Ajay Goyal, chairman of The Russia Journal, who has been traveling to and from Moscow for more than 14 years. "They were always inefficient, but the number of passengers was less and more windows used to be open. One could still get through within an hour. Now, it can take as much as flying time from Frankfurt to Moscow to simply get through the immigration."

"Russia will never get the foreign investment it needs as long as Sheremetyevo II exists in its present state," added a foreign businessman who asked not to be named. "Your first impression on arriving is that you have entered a Third World police state – not exactly the impression that opens up executives' wallets."

Some suggest that this situation can be explained by corruption and hint that airport officials deliberately refuse to open more passport control booths in order to extort money from passengers for speedy processing.

"I suspect this is intentional chaos," said Goyal. "Anyone can get through the V.I.P. clearance for $100. Hundreds do, and I suspect it's a flourishing business for some well-connected people. If there were no queues, why would people pay so much? It's a simple case of a group of corrupt bureaucrats and some criminals holding the whole country's image hostage. They are deliberately creating snarls at immigration so people are forced to pay."

Several companies that provide visas for Russia also offer the so-called "V.I.P. passport and customs clearance." But, to be eligible for this kind of service, one doesn't have to present a diplomatic or official credentials, according to an employee at a Moscow travel agency.

For a flat fee of $90, any passenger can jump the line accompanied by an agency employee with a "V.I.P." sign, she said, adding that people standing in lines normally wouldn't protest. "They simply don't know what's going on." Observers say that several hundred people a day pass through passport control using this scheme or a similar one.

Meanwhile Sheremetyevo II officials refused to comment on the situation at the airport.

A spokesman for the Federal Border Service – which is frequently criticized for passport control delays – declined to say how many officers are stationed at Sheremetyevo II. "This is classified information," he said.

He added that long lines at Sheremetyevo II passport control have nothing to do with inefficiency of the border control service at Sheremetyevo II. "It's all the fault of the airport itself," he said. "If there were more room we could place more booths there and station as many officers as there is a need for." But he refused to say why most booths at the airport's passport control are always closed.