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Iran, Russia to abandon entry visas — ministry

Talks between Teheran and Moscow on complete visa abandonment might be completed next year

TEHERAN, October 24. /TASS/. Iran and Russia will ultimately abandon entry visas but not in a short-term perspective, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said on Monday.

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Russia, Iran relax visa rules

"Efforts taken by Iran and Russian in the recent months to liberalize the visa regime speak about the two countries’ will to develop cooperation," he told a briefing. "We hope these efforts will be further intensified which in the long run will be crowned by the cancelation of the visa regime between the two countries. But I don’t think it will be done in a short-term perspective as it will take resolution of some technical problems."

Earlier, Iran’s Ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanai told the Iranian news agency Tasnim that talks between Teheran and Moscow on complete visa abandonment could be successfully completed next year. Step one towards that, in his words, would be entry visa cancelation for tourist groups. This issue, according to the Iranian diplomat, is expected to be settled at the next meeting of the Iranian-Russian commission on consular cooperation.

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