Russia is working to ease visa procedures for six countries, including India, Syria and Indonesia, Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Ivanov told the state-run TASS news agency on Sunday.
“Apart from India (simplification of procedures) … Angola, Vietnam, Indonesia, Syria and the Philippines are being worked on,” Ivanov said.
Ivanov previously said Russia is also preparing intergovernmental agreements on visa-free travel with 11 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Barbados, Haiti, Zambia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico and Trinidad, TASS reported.
Since the start of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine a year ago, which has killed thousands and displaced millions, Moscow has turned to China, India and African nations in an effort to find closer ties there.
While the United States, Japan and the European Union condemned the Russian invasion and imposed sanctions, China and India did neither. India maintained a neutral stance, refusing to blame Russia for the invasion, while sharply increasing its purchases of Russian oil.
