At its plenary session on Friday evening, the 450-strong State Duma approved by 428 votes the Inter-Governmental Agreement on simplification of requirements for mutual travels of certain categories of citizens, which was was signed by India and Russia on December 21 last year in New Delhi, the lower house of Parliament said on its website.
"The agreement is aimed at consolidating the legal basis for Russia-India relations in the area of mutual travels of citizens and promoting creation of favourable conditions for certain categories of citizens of the two countries, first of all representatives of business, scientists, cultural workers, students and tourists," Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin said presenting the document before the House.
After the ratification of the Indo-Russian agreement by the upper house of Parliament - the Federation Council - and signing it into law by President Dmitry Medvedev, the individual citizens and organisations will no longer need an invitation or a tourist voucher to travel to Russia or India and will be able to directly apply for visas.
Earlier in August, the Presidium of the Russian Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin approved the Indo-Russian deal easing issuance of business and tourist visas to their nationals and forwarded it to the State Duma.
Under the agreement, the citizens of the two countries holding valid national passports can stay on the territory of the other country for up to 90 days within a period of 180 days from their first entry.
For the first time since the Soviet collapse, the two sides are also considering the possibility of issuing multiple entry visas valid for up to five years to citizens of both countries under the condition that they follow certain requirements, which are yet to be identified.
Earlier in June India took a lead in resolving the vexed visa issue by liberalising its rules for the Russian citizens visiting India on business and for tourism.
To further encourage business contacts and promote tourism between India and Russia we are now issuing multi-entry business visas valid for one year against six months single or double entry in the past and tourist visas valid for six months with multiple entries," Indian Ambassador Ajai Malhotra said.
The Indian diplomatic missions in Moscow, St Petersburg and Vladivostok have streamlined issuance of business and tourist visas within three working days against 14 days in the past.
According to Ambassador Malhotra, the Indian missions in Russia had issued about 110,000 visas to Russian citizens during 2010.
"I expect this number to increase by about 25 per cent this year", Malhotra hoped.
Tourist flows from Russia to India have picked up in recent years, with Goa, New Delhi-Agra-Jaipur Golden Triangle, Mumbai and Kullu-Manali emerging as major attractions.
Tourism Minister S K Sahai had recently visited Moscow to further boost tourist inflow from Russia.
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