No visa for Kuwaitis to visit Russian Far East

GORKI: Kuwait is one of 18 countries whose citizens can now visit the Russian Far East without visas, the Russian media reported yesterday. “I have recently approved the list of countries, whose nationals can take advantage of the preferential regime,” Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said yesterday. “Businessmen and tourists will not need to undergo the traditional procedure of Russian visas receipt. It will be enough for foreigners to enter their data on a special website in the Internet.”

“We are proactively forming the modern infrastructure and creating special regimes in the Far East; the law on visits to the Vladivostok free port was approved in March,” Medvedev said. Cancellation of visa procedures for tourists and businessmen “will promote growth of investment and tourist attractiveness of the Far East,” the prime minister said. The region will earn more money from tourist traffic growth, he added.

Eighteen countries from various regions selected by the reciprocity principle were included into the list, Medvedev said. “This is not because these states are situated at a closer or longer distance - we are appropriately introducing bilateral agreements on visa-free travel for those ready to use such an approach for us,” he added. According to the official site of the Russian Cabinet, the list of 18 countries comprises - in addition to Kuwait - Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei, India, Iran, Qatar, China, North Korea, Morocco, Mexico, UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Tunisia, Turkey and Japan. — Russian News Agency