Authorities in Russia have unfolded plans to lift visa requirements for citizens of more than 11 countries, and also facilitate entry requirements for arrivals from some six other countries, taking also into account those from Indonesia, and India.
The decision has been confirmed by Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Wednesday, VisaGuide.World reports.
In addition, Lavrov revealed that Russia would reintroduce the e-visa scheme, which was presented back in 2020 but was soon suspended due to the spread of the Coronavirus and its new strains.
According to him, the e-visa scheme will be reintroduced in an abbreviated format that will not be accessible to holders of passports from Western states.
“I don’t believe there will be any issues for friendly states,” Lavrov pointed out, according to local media reports.
It has also been revealed that the new e-visa program will restart on June 1. Such an initiative has been taken as part of efforts to increase the number of visitors to Russia, after it experienced a decrease of 96 per cent last year, due to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and sanctions imposed by many countries.
The Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) revealed that international tourism to Russia declined below 4 per cent of its pre-pandemic levels last year, following the sanctions imposed as a response to the invasion of Ukraine.
In addition, the figures provided by the same source noted that just 200,100 visitors reached Russia last year, thus marking a decline of 96.1 per cent from 5.1 million travellers who have visited Russia before the spread of the Coronavirus in 2019.
“The reasons are clear: closed skies between Russia and the vast majority of European countries, as well as the inability to use foreign-issued Visa and Mastercard cards in Russia,” ATOR pointed out in this regard.
Citizens of Germany (25,400), Turkey (22,600) and Iran (14,600) visited the most Russia last year.
The figures of 2022 led authorities in Russia to take additional measures in order to bring back a larger number of visitors, even though Lavrov said that Russia’s visa requirements weren’t to blame for the decline in the number of international arrivals, throwing accusations towards countries that stopped direct flights to Russia.
As part of efforts to help the country’s economic sector further grow, Russia’s government also introduced the Golden Visa scheme for foreign investors, thus allowing them to acquire residency provided they make an investment.
In addition, last month, authorities in Russia also announced that they are attempting to grant visa-free travel to citizens from several Latin and Arab states.
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