In the third quarter of 2020, the total number of arrivals of foreigners to Russia decreased by 82% to 1.8 million, TASS reported, citing the FSB border service. In the second quarter, 509 thousand foreigners arrived in Russia, and most of them were citizens of Kazakhstan, Ukraine and the Philippines. In July-September, Ukraine (1.1 million) and Kazakhstan (280 thousand) remained the leaders in terms of entry. This is followed by Abkhazia (94 thousand), Uzbekistan (37.7 thousand), the Philippines (31.4 thousand), and Belarus (30 thousand).
According to the FSB, traveling to Russia for tourist purposes fell to almost zero. In total, from July to September, about 4 thousand foreign tourists visited the country, and 2.9 thousand of them were citizens of Turkey. More than 500 British citizens and over 100 Swiss also visited Russia. Now citizens of Turkey, Tanzania, Great Britain, UAE, Abkhazia, Switzerland, Maldives and the UAE can freely come to Russia. For the rest, the border remains formally closed.
Author: Anna Dorozhkina