Russia is preparing to simplify the visa system with some countries of the BRICS group whose citizens still need to obtain a visa and with some other Latin American and African countries.
In a recent statement, the Russian Minister of Economic Development, Maxim Reshetnikov, revealed that since its country launched the e-visa service last year, about 300,000 foreign tourists have visited Russia, with over 60 percent coming from BRICS countries, VisaGuide.World reports.
Of all the BRICS countries, tourists from China, India, Iran, Egypt, and Ethiopia currently need a visa to enter Russia. Only diplomatic and service passport holders from China, India, Iran, Egypt, and Ethiopia can enter Russia without a visa.
Therefore, to apply more uniform rules to all the BRICS countries, Russia said that it is working on facilitating its visa rules for additional nations.
Russia Predicts to Welcome 20 Million Travelers From BRICS Countries by 2030
Data show that the mutual tourist flow between Russia and the BRICS countries in the first half of this year totaled 1.5 million people, which is four times more than last year. Such a figure is expected to grow to 20 million people by 2030, accounting for ten percent of the total number of international tourists in the BRICS countries.
Minister Reshetnikov pointed out that most BRICS countries have direct flights, and tourists can travel without visas; in isolated cases, work is being done to simplify the process, as is the case with some countries mentioned above.
Another instrument to facilitate visa procedures is group tourist exchanges, owing to which Russia has had active tourist exchanges with China and Iran.
According to Minister Reshetnikov, a total of 450,000 mutual trips with Iran have taken place, despite Iranians needing a visa to travel to Russia.
In March of this year, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Evgeny Ivanov said that Russia had discussed working on easing visa procedures for six countries, including India, Syria, and Indonesia.
Russia is in negotiations on launching group visa-free tours with India. In addition to India (procedures simplification), it is being worked out with Angola, Vietnam, Indonesia, Syria, and the Philippines.
In April this year, the Kremlin tightened travel rules for officials out of fear that foreign countries could gain access to Russia. According to him, the Lower House of the State Duma of Russia staff were not allowed to travel abroad at all, with all requests being refused.
The list of friendly countries consists of Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea and several former Soviet states.
Russia in Discussion to Introduce a Visa-Free Travel Policy to 11 Countries in 3 Regions Worldwide
In this regard, he emphasized visa-free travel agreements which were being discussed for nationals, which are as follows:
- Saudi Arabia
- Barbados
- Haiti
- Zambia
- Kuwait
- Malaysia
- Mexico
- Trinidad
- Bahamas
- Tobago
- Bahrain