The State Duma of the Russian Federation has passed in the third (final) reading a draft law providing visa-free regime for ferry passengers coming to the country for a period of up to 72 hours, ITAR-TASS reports. The list of ports to operate under this visa-free regime is to be determined by the Cabinet of Ministers.
According to the explanatory note, one of the authors of which is Vladimir Pligin, Chairman of the Duma Constitutional Law and Nation Building Committee, currently this is only allowed for cruise ship passengers.
The initiative was put forward by the St Petersburg authorities in late June. According to it such a regime is to improve tourism capacity of the Northern Capital, Izvestia reports.