Russia and India's friendship is growing stronger. Recently, Russia chose India over China to build non-nuclear icebreaker ships, a project worth ?6,000 crores. Now, as the next step to bring the two countries closer, India and Russia are planning to ease travel rules by spring 2025.

According to an *Economic Times* article dated October 28, 2024, Russia is considering allowing Indians to travel to Russia without needing a visa. This move aims to welcome more Indian tourists to explore Russia, especially the capital city, Moscow.

Since August 1, 2023, Indians have needed an e-visa to visit Russia, which gets approved within 4-5 days. With this easy process, India has already become one of the top five countries visiting Russia.

The Chairperson of the Moscow City Tourism Committee, Evgeny Kozlov, expects a rise in the number of Indian visitors, especially to Moscow, due to the upcoming visa-free policy. He also mentioned that the final details of the visa-free travel agreement are still being worked out.

In June 2024, Russia and India held talks to make travel easier between the two nations, planning a visa-free group tourist program. This program, which Russia had earlier extended only to China and Iran, will now include India. The first Indian tourist group is expected to arrive visa-free in Moscow by spring 2025.

Currently, more than 25 countries allow Indian passport holders to enter without a visa.

Tags

• russia
• india
• free visa
• tourism

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