India has suspended negotiations with Russia on a visa-free regime

Negotiations between India and Russia on the introduction of a visa-free regime for organized tourist groups have failed to yield results. The parties have suspended work on the relevant agreement, despite repeated calls by Vladimir Putin to reach an agreement.

This was announced on October 31 by Alexei Klimov, head of the Consular Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry. According to him, an agreement could not be reached because India had not previously entered into any agreements providing for visa-free travel for organized groups of foreign nationals.

The initiative was intended to allow tourist groups from both countries to visit each other without obtaining visas. Putin raised this issue during talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as far back as 2019. After the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine, the Russian president again publicly called for the lifting of visa restrictions between the two countries.

In 2023, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development proposed introducing a visa-free regime following the example of China and Iran. At the time, the ministry’s head, Maxim Reshetnikov, stated that the proposal was being discussed through diplomatic channels.

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India and the Czech Republic agreed to expand cooperation in the defense industry, particularly through joint ventures and the India-Czech Joint Defense Committee. This was discussed during talks between Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Czech First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlíček in New Delhi on October 13.

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