Russia to allow visa-free entry To Indians

Come Spring 2025, Indians can enjoy a visa-free travel to Russia. This is likely to be facilitated following a visa-free travel agreement between India and Russia.

Currently, Indian travelers visit Russia with various visa types, including tourist, business, humanitarian, private, work and student categories, basing on their need and purpose.

The travel agreement between the countries holds significance as India has become an essential market for tourism, both for leisure and business.

Since August 1, 2023, Indian travelers have been able to apply for Unified e-visa (UEV), which takes nearly four days for processing.

Evgeny Kozlov, Chairperson of the Moscow City Tourism Committee, over 28,500 Indian travelers visited Moscow in the first six months of 2024, indicating a 1.5-fold rise when compared to last year. A majority of Indians travel to Russia for business and work-related purpose.

Russia already offers visa-free entry to citizens of China and Iran too, under its tourist exchange programme, that kicked off on August 1, 2023.

At present, Indian passport holders currently enjoy visa-free access to 62 countries, and this facility from Russia will expand their travel opportunity.