Russia likely to launch visa-free travel for Indian tourists from 2025
New Delhi: Indian tourists may soon be able to visit Russia without needing a visa, with the new system likely to commence in the spring of 2025.
Russia and India had held discussions earlier about a bilateral agreement to ease visa restrictions, aiming to introduce visa-free group tourist exchanges.
This follows a move in August 2023, when Indian travellers became eligible for e-visas to travel to Russia, which generally takes about four days to get processed.
In 2023, India was one of the top five countries receiving e-visas, with around 9,500 issued to Indian citizens.
Currently, Indian nationals are required to have a visa issued by the Russian Embassy/Consulates in the nation to enter, stay and exit from the Russian Federation.
Notably, Russia allows visa-free entry for travelers from China and Iran through its visa-free tourist exchange programme. The program has been successful, and Russia is hopeful it can extend this benefit to India as well.
Indian passport holders currently have visa-free access to 62 countries.
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FIR filed against three individuals, website for spreading false news involving VB, ‘Op Sindoor’
Mangaluru, May 15: An FIR has been registered at the Mangaluru South Police Station against three individuals and a news website for allegedly spreading false and provocative content involving Kannada daily Vartha Bharati and "Operation Sindoor".
The complaint was lodged by B.M. Basheer, News Editor of Vartha Bharati, who sought legal action against those misusing his name, the name of the newspaper, and "Operation Sindoor" to circulate misleading and defamatory content.
According to the complaint, a Facebook post by Nithin Shamanur titled ‘Operation Sindoor: Kannada Journalist’s brother’s wife Finished’ contained false information and featured a photograph of a woman and soldiers. This same post was allegedly shared by two others — Santosh Hegade and Bettampady Chandra — on their Facebook profiles. In addition, the same content was reportedly published by the website newsputtur.com.
Basheer stated that the news being circulated is completely baseless and inflammatory, and accused the individuals involved of attempting to mislead the public. He warned that such content could spark unrest, especially in the already sensitive environment of coastal Karnataka.
“This baseless and provocative misinformation in the name of ‘Operation Sindoor’ is misleading the public and has the potential to incite unrest in society,” said Basheer in his complaint. “Given the already sensitive atmosphere in coastal Karnataka due to recent developments, such rumors are likely to further destabilize the situation.”
He demanded strict legal action against Nithin Shamanur, Santosh Hegade, Bettampady Chandra, and the editor of newsputtur.com, including registration of a criminal case and a thorough investigation into the matter.
Acting on the complaint, the Mangaluru South Police have registered an FIR against all four accused under relevant sections for allegedly spreading false, defamatory, and inflammatory content online. Further investigation is underway.
