Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Russia Drops Far East (Дальний Восток) Visas for Moroccans

Moroccans will no longer be required to get visa to travel to the region usually referred to as just "Far East" (Дальний Восток)

Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, this week announced that businessmen and tourists from 18 countries, including Morocco, can travel to the Far East Russia without visas.

“I have recently approved the list of countries, whose nationals can take advantage of the preferential regime. Businessmen and tourists will not need to undergo the traditional procedure of Russian visas receipt,” said Medvedev.  Moscow is hoping that the cancellation of visa procedures “will promote growth of investment and tourist attractiveness of the Far East,” said Medvedev.

The Russian PM added all that is required from foreigners willing to visit the region is “to enter their data on a special website in the Internet.”


The decision is expected to boost tourist traffic. The selection of the 18 countries was based on bilateral agreements “on visa-free travel for those ready to use such an approach for us,” explained the Russian PM.

The 18 countries are Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei, India, Iran, Qatar, China, North Korea, Kuwait, Morocco, Mexico, UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Tunisia, Turkey and Japan.


The Russian Far East (Russian: Дальний Восток России, tr. Dal’niy Vostok Rossii; ) is the the extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean. The Far Eastern Federal District, which covers this area, borders with the Siberian Federal District to the west. The Far Eastern Federal District has land borders with the People's Republic of China and North Korea to the south west and maritime borders with Japan and the American state of Alaska.

According to the 2010 Census, Far Eastern Federal District had a population of 6,293,129. Most of it is concentrated in the southern parts. Given the vast territory of the Russian Far East, 6.3 million people translates to slightly less than one person per square kilometre, making the Russian Far East one of the most sparsely populated areas in the world.

Kamchatka is spectacular 

The Russian Far East is extraordinarily far from Russia's major population centres. The largest city in the region, Vladivostok, is a full seven time zones away from Moscow, with 9,300 km of railroad between them. The Far East is very different from popular conceptions of Russia—it is very mountainous and has an often spectacular Pacific coastline.

If time and money are not constraints, the highlights of this massive region include the city of Vladivostok, the beautiful Kuril Islands, the otherworldly National Parks of Kamchatka, cruising along the coast of Chukotka, and big game hunting in the wildlife paradise of Yakutia.

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