Following a new decree seeking to lighten the bureaucratic load of entering and departing the Russian Federation for foreigners, travelers heading to Russia for tourist, humanitarian or business reasons can visit Peter the Great's former imperial capital by applying online for a free visa, which will be valid for 30 days, and allow an eight-day stay in the Saint Petersburg area.

The list of eligible nationalities include Iran, Japan, Germany, Finland, Bulgaria, Vatican City, Hungary, Greece, Denmark, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Malaysia, Luxembourg, Kuwait, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Serbia, North Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and etc.

With the launch of the new visa, Russia continues to open its borders to tourism. This follows the introduction of a visa opening the doors to the Kaliningrad enclave, located between Poland and Lithuania.

Earlier in March 2018, Iran’s ambassador to Russia and Russian deputy minister of foreign affairs held talks to discuss more consular cooperation and visa facilitation for both countries’ citizens. In the meeting, Mehdi Sanaei and Yevgeny Ivanov discussed bilateral cooperation including visa facilitation for both countries’ citizens.

The two sides emphasized the need for the development of consular cooperation in order to keep up with current level of increased bilateral relations.

The need for holding expert level meetings, the establishment of new consulates and taking operational steps to achieve the economic goals of the two countries, and the settlement of the problems of Iranian residents residing in Russia were among other topics discussed and agreed by the two officials.

HJ/IRN 83477879