MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. Russia intends to expand the list of countries whose citizens will be able to obtain Russian electronic visas, Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Consular Department Alexey Klimov said in an interview with TASS.
"The idea of expanding the list of foreign countries whose citizens can receive an electronic visa is currently being reviewed. It is too early to name specific countries that can be added to this list," he said.
Klimov noted that in accordance with the action plan for implementation of the Concept of the state migration policy of the Russian Federation for 2019-2025 in 2024-2025, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was instructed to submit a corresponding report to the government by December 10, 2024.
According to him, from August 1 to December 31, 2023, 170,000 unified electronic visas were issued to citizens of 55 foreign countries. "Currently, there is a demand for a unified electronic visa by citizens of a relatively small number of foreign countries included in this list. More than 90% of the total number of unified electronic visas were issued to citizens of ten countries (China, Estonia, Germany, Turkey, India, Saudi Arabia, Latvia, Iran, Lithuania, Italy). Citizens of foreign countries from unfriendly countries were issued 43,000 unified electronic visas, or 25% of their total number," Klimov added.