The Russian government has issued a press release stating that a nationwide electronic visa will be introduced on January 1, 2021. Prior to the current restrictions on the corona situation, an e-visa holder was allowed to travel to St. Petersburg, Leningrad and to Kaliningrad. This trial period is now coming to an end.
With this new nationwide e-visa, Russia wants to develop tourism, increase the number of tourists visiting and facilitate the movement of tourists within the country. The e-visa will be issued to citizens of 52 countries. This new e-visa will differ in some respects from the old one.
• e-visa will be applied from the Russian authority's online system in English or Russian
• with e-visa, you can travel all over Russia through 29 border crossings
• e-visa allows you to stay in the country for 16 days (previously 8 days)
• e-visa is valid for 60 days from issuance (previously 30 days)
• e-visa is subject to a fee, the price will be around $ 40
• e-visa is free for children under 6 years of age
• e-visa is suitable for tourist and business trips as well as for humanitarian travel
• for the time being, e-visa is only suitable for air travel when traveling from Finland
The Russian Foreign Minister has confirmed the list of border crossing points where Russian border can be crossed with an e-visa. Unfortunately, there are no land crossing points between Finland and Russia on the list. However, the Russian government has said that new border crossing points will be added to the list as soon as it will be technically possible.
So, according to the current list, a Russian e-visa holder cannot cross the Finnish border by bus, car, bike or by train. Instead, one can fly to St. Petersburg and Moscow with an e-visa. The port of St. Petersburg can also be found from the list of maritime inspection stations.
It is possible to travel to Russia by road, for example by car from Estonia via Narva. When going from Latvia to Russia, e-visa will be accepted at the Ubylinka border station in Pskov.
From this link you can read the Russian government bulletin and check all 29 border crossing points that are currently on the list (pdf) http://government.ru/docs/40698/
Due to the current corona situation, it is difficult to predict when the e-visa will be put on use. When it happens, SoloVisa service will help customers to obtain an e-visa. We will provide additional information as soon as it will be received from the Russian authorities.