Saint Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city after Moscow.

Russia will give e-visas to Indians visiting its cultural capital Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad Region and extend the facility for the rest of the country by 2021, officials said on Tuesday.

The facility starts from October 1 and can be availed by filling an electronic application form and uploading a digital photo at least four days before the expected date of arrival in the Russian Federation.

Indian nationals will be able to obtain single business, humanitarian and tourist visas in the form of an electronic document, which will be valid 30 days from the date of issuance and the maximum period of stay in the Russian Federation should not exceed eight days.

"We want to open up Russia, liberalise norms so that we get more visitors and also to showcase our history and culture to the world. We are also thinking of extending this e-visa facility for the rest of the Russian Federation by 2021," said Andrey V Fedorov, senior counsellor, Consular Affairs, Embassy of the Russian Federation in India.

The e-visa is valid only for arrival and departure via border crossing points located in the territory of Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad Region - air border crossing point Pulkovo (the local airport), sea border crossing points Vysotsk, Big Port Saint Petersburg (Marine Station), Passenger Port of Saint Petersburg, motor vehicle border crossing points Ivangorod, Torfyanovka, Brusnichnoe, Svetogorsk and pedestrian border crossing point Ivangorod.

Due to technical reasons, for now foreign nationals bearing e-visas will not be able to enter and exit Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad Region via train border crossing points.

Foreign nationals with e-visas are not allowed to enter other regions of the Russian Federation (not covered by e-visa service) with any purpose, including transit.