Iranians Granted Visa-Free Travel to Russian Far East

Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday tourists and businessmen from 18 nations, including Iran, can visit the Russian Far East without visas.

“I have recently approved the list of countries, whose nationals can take advantage of the preferential regime. Businessmen and tourists will not need to undergo the traditional procedure of Russian visas receipt,” the prime minister said.

It will be enough for foreigners “to enter their data on a special website in the Internet”, Medvedev was quoted as saying by TASS.

In addition to Iranians, citizens of 17 other countries comprising Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei, India, Qatar, China, North Korea, Kuwait, Morocco, Mexico, UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Tunisia, Turkey and Japan can travel to the Russian Far East without visa.

The TASS report did not specify the duration of the visa, but IRNA reported it to be for eight days.

“We are proactively forming the modern infrastructure and creating special regimes in the Far East; the law on visits to the Vladivostok free port was approved in March,” Medvedev said.

Cancellation of visa procedures for tourists and businessmen “will promote growth of investment and tourist attractiveness of the Far East”, the prime minister said. The region will earn more money from tourist traffic growth, he added.

Medvedev noted that 18 countries selected by the reciprocity principle were included into the list.

“This is not because these states are situated at a closer or longer distance; we are appropriately introducing bilateral agreements on visa-free travel for those ready to use such an approach for us,” he added.

According to WikiTravel, the Far East “ is very different from popular conceptions of Russia—it is very mountainous and has an often spectacular Pacific coastline”.

The highlights of this massive region include the city of Vladivostok, the beautiful Kuril Islands, the otherworldly National Parks of Kamchatka, cruising along the coast of Chukotka, and big game hunting in the wildlife paradise of Yakutia.

Iran and Russia are reportedly in talks to completely abolish the visa regime by the end of 2017.