The visa initiative will help vitalize tourism, Minister Vladimir Medinsky highlighted in a meeting with members of the Committee of Education and Culture, a unit under the Federation Council.
Only the airports of Moscow, Sankt Petersburg and Kazan will be applicable, and the short-term visa will concern first of all transit travellers, the minister said. “It will for example enable a Japanese going to Rome make a stop at the Bolshoy Theater”, he argued.
According to Medinsky, his ministry also wants to introduce a ten-day visa-free regime for foreign participants in cultural events and festivals, as well as for football players.
The initiatives are part of a new legislative bill currently under elaboration by the ministry, newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta reports.