YEKATERINBURG, October 6. /TASS/. All necessary paperwork for launching visa-free group tourism between India and Russia is to be prepared in 2024, Russian Tourist Industry Union (RST) Vice President Yury Barzykin said.

"So far, the mechanism for organizing [visa-free travel] with China and Iran is in motion," he said at a plenary meeting of the International Tourist Exhibition Expotravel-2023 in Yekaterinburg, adding that plans call for organizing such visa-free arrangements "with India next year."

Russian Economic Development Minister Maksim Reshetnikov said earlier that Moscow had offered to fully waive visa requirements for visitors from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrein, Oman and Malaysia.

The International Tourist Exhibition Expotravel-2023 is taking place in Yekaterinburg on October 6-7.