Russia is working on a plan to allow Indians visa-free travel. The country is soon to launch e-visas for Indians to travel at ease, said Alina Arutyunova, deputy chairman of the Moscow city tourism committee, who was in Mumbai on 13 Sep.
“The President of the Russian Federation has supported an initiative to introduce a visa-free regime for group tourists. Such an order has already been received for Iran on Tuesday. It’s possible that the same assignment will soon be for India,” she said.
“In 2020, a resolution was passed on the introduction of electronic visas for 52 countries, including India. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the resolution has not yet entered into force, but we very much expect that the project will be launched soon, and e-visa will simplify the arrival process of foreign tourists,” Alina Arutyunova added to the statement.
According to her, Indian, Turkey, and Germany are the three top non-CIS (Common Wealth of Independent States) countries that send the largest tourists to Moscow. Between 2016 and 2019, Moscow saw considerable growth in Indian tourists. During these years, the tourist traffic from India to Moscow had reached almost a lakh. Later in 2021, traffic reached 40% of the pre-pandemic level.
Acquiring an electronic visa for Russia is not permissible at the moment, but Indians can still travel to far-east Russia with an iVisa.
Russia is one of the most popular tourist places. People visit here from across the globe to explore heritage sites and other wonders. It receives almost 7 million Indian tourists annually. With this, the requirement of an e-visa seems necessary. How would it impact India and Russia’s tourism? Will it strengthen the relationship between both countries?