The countries include India, Bahrain, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Türkiye and the Philippines
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin recently signed a decree approving facilitated visa regime for citizens of 19 countries, including India. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Russia was planning to introduce visa-free travel for citizens of up to 11 ‘friendly’ countries as well as ease entry requirements for citizens of six others, reported ET Online.
Citizens of the specified countries may get a tourist visa for up to six months if they have a hotel reservation, the decree, published on the government portal, read. The countries include India, Bahrain, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Türkiye and the Philippines.
“We are working on facilitating a completely visa-free regime with about eleven countries. With six more, including India, Indonesia, we are looking to ease the conditions. And let’s not forget that we are working on lifting restrictions on the issuance of electronic visas to a large number of countries, there are about 70 countries, with the exception of unfriendly ones, which have stopped issuing visas to us in a simplified manner,” state-run TASS quoted him as saying at a government hour in the State Duma.
Between 2016 and 2019, tourist traffic from India to Moscow had grown from 61,000 annual visitors to over a lakh. In 2021, traffic recovered to 40 per cent of the pre-pandemic level. Interestingly, they observed that of the Indian travellers who visited Moscow in 2021, 48 per cent went there twice that year
The Russian minister also said that the country is planning to re-start the evisa scheme it had introduced before Covid struck. “Electronic visas were approved three years ago, then the Covid intervened, then we lifted the Covid restrictions last summer, but given the unfriendly actions of the West, including in the area of issuing visas to Russians, the government was instructed to report before June 1 on the possibility of starting the implementation of the previously adopted decisions on the issuance of electronic visas. I think that there will be no questions for friendly countries,” he added.
In September, Russia announced it was working on plans to extend, first the e-visa facility to India, before letting Indians travel visa-free.
According to the latest data from the Border Guard Service of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, in 2022, foreign tourist flow to the country fell by 96.1 per cent in 2022.
Lavrov noted that the volume of tourism in Russia was not affected by visa issues, but by logistical restrictions. “Logistics is now complicated due to decisions to stop direct flights. It’s one thing for travellers on business trips to fly despite layovers, but not every tourist will do so, because tourists may not have long leaves, and every day is expensive,” he stressed.
Between 2016 and 2019, tourist traffic from India to Moscow had grown from 61,000 annual visitors to over a lakh. In 2021, traffic recovered to 40 per cent of the pre-pandemic level. Interestingly, they observed that of the Indian travellers who visited Moscow in 2021, 48 per cent went there twice that year.
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