Senior lawmaker Degtyarev proposes abolishing visas for cruise tourists, sports fans
MOSCOW. Aug 2 (Interfax) - Russia should ease visa rules for some categories of foreigners, including for cruise tourists and sports fans, as soon as possible, the chair of the State Duma Committee for Physical Culture, Sports, Tourism and Youth Affairs, Mikhail Degtyarev, said.
"As to relaxing visa rules, those regions, which have seaports, namely, Vladivostok, Crimea, Kuban, Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg and northern regions need that, above all. At the same time, visas should be abandoned at all for some categories of citizens, for instance, for cruise tourists and visitors of major sports events. Those easier rules for this category should be adopted as soon as possible," Degtyarev told reporters on Thursday.
The committee "is lobbying visa-free travel and relaxed entry rules," he said.
Russia is one of the most complicated countries in terms of receiving visas, as their price in this country is one of the highest in the world, the parliamentarian added.
"Following the 2018 FIFA World Cup, we will analyze the flow of fans and will consider with all interested sides and state security bodies what measures can be taken to ease visa rules. Tourists, who attend the FIFA World Cup, committed no violations, as they spent their money in the SMB area. There were no problems with them," Degtyarev added.