The news broke on Tuesday, May 23: Russia's Minister of Economic Development, Maxim Reshetnikov, announced that the government was "working on the question of the resumption of an electronic visa" from July 1.
Indeed, a law passed in July 2020 allowed citizens of 53 countries (including the European Union) to travel to Russia for tourism, business, humanitarian reasons, or to visit relatives. The eVisa offered the possibility of traveling for up to 16 days in the country with a single entry, through 92 different entry points.
However, Russia had paused this project since January 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to ATOR (Association of Tour Operators of Russia), Russia has suffered a drop in the number of visits of 96.1% in the space of 2 years, i.e. 200,000 foreign tourists in 2022 compared with 5 million entries in 2019.
In addition to the eVisa project, the closed airspace between Russia and the vast majority of European countries, as well as the impossibility of using Visa and Mastercard cards issued by foreign banks in Russia, have all contributed to this collapse in tourist visits. Not to mention the current geopolitical situation...
Relaunching the e-visa would therefore be an interesting way of revitalizing the country, especially as new nationalities could be eligible. However, the Russian government is keeping a low profile for the time being, and has provided no further details on the subject. See you in July to find out whether or not the Russian eVisa will be available to travellers again.
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