Directive No. 1647-r of September 16, 2013
A federal law On Amending Article 2511 of the federal law On the Procedure for Exit from and Entry into the Russian Federation has been drafted by the Ministry of Culture following a Government instruction.
This instruction suggests that the Ministry of Culture, the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Regional Development, the Federal Migration Service, the Federal Security Service, the Federal Agency for the Development of State Border Infrastructure and the Ministry of Justice should explore the possibility of making amendments to Federal Law No. 114-FZ of August 15, 1996 On the Procedure for Exit from and Entry into the Russian Federation to relax visa requirements in order to develop inbound tourism. It also suggests submitting drafts of legislative and other normative legal acts to the Government in the established manner, as needed.
The draft law stipulates that foreign nationals arriving in Russia from other countries whose list is approved by the Government to transit for tourist purposes on aircraft through airports open to international passenger traffic whose list is defined by the Government, may stay on the territory of Russia for 72 hours without a visa in a procedure established by the Government.
The adoption of the draft law will help increase the inbound tourist flow of foreign nationals transiting through the Moscow transport hub from 20% to 30% a year, raise the volume of consumed tourist services from 13.1 billion to 19.7 billion roubles, and increase revenues from hotel services offered from 3.6 billion to 5.4. billion roubles.