Moscow: Russia will allow visa-free travel for Indians from spring 2025. In June, India and Russia held talks to ease visa rules for each other’s citizens and visa-free travel was also discussed.
From August 2023, Indians can also visit Russia through e-Visa. But it also takes 4 days to get e-Visa. But now from spring 2025, Indians will be able to travel to Russia without a visa. Indians are also among the five most visited nationalities in Russia. Last year, about 9500 e-visas were given to Indians. So said the Indian Express.
Currently, visas are issued to Indians through Russian embassies or consulates. 60,000 Indians visited Moscow in 2023. Which indicates an increase of 26 percent compared to 2022.
In the first quarter of 2024, 1700 e-visas were registered from countries from which business people come to Russia, excluding the CIS countries.
It is noteworthy that Russia currently allows citizens of China and Iran to enter Russia without a visa under the visa-free tourist exchange program. Similarly, consideration is being given to allowing Indians to come without tourist visa. Russia also wants India to allow Russians to visit India visa-free on passport basis only.