The international terminal, Pulkovo 2, at St Petersburg is quite small. In truth it's not a busy place. Try to sit as far forward in the plane as you can to be early out and don't waste time getting from the aircraft to the escalators down to immigration. Signage is in Russian and English.

The key factor is whether a second aircraft has arrived just before yours.

It's probably a bit difficult for a first-timer to judge but try to choose a queue which does not seem to contain any "problem" people. I can't really explain how to identify them but you can get a sort of feeling

There are about 8 desks but I have never seen all of them open. Some are reserved for Russians only, then change over once all the Russians are through. Extra desks may get opened but only once substantial queues have developed, you need to keep an eagle eye open for any that are about to open, the shutter will whisk upwards and then there will be a sudden rush across that you have about 3 seconds to participate in.

In any event, although I have sometimes queued for 5 and sometimes for 20 minutes I still seem to have to wait beyond for the baggage to be delivered, although never for too long. I don't think it has ever taken me more than 30 minutes or maybe a bit more.

The meeter drivers are quite used to hanging around waiting for passengers there. It is how they spend their lives.