Visa-Free Travel Fuels Surge in Chinese Visitors to Russia

MOSCOW, Feb 10 – The number of Chinese citizens traveling to Russia has doubled in just over two months, a direct result of a new visa-free policy. Alexei Klimov, Director of the Consular Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, shared the figures in an interview on Thursday.

The policy, enacted by presidential decree on December 1, 2025, allows holders of standard Chinese passports to enter Russia without a visa. "We are already seeing a twofold increase in the number of PRC citizens who have visited our country," Klimov stated. He anticipates a much larger wave of tourists with the arrival of spring.

The movement goes both ways. Recent data shows Russians are also embracing the eased travel rules, with trips to China soaring to a record 746,000 in the final quarter of last year.

Russia and China first tested group visa-free tourist exchanges in August 2023. The current reciprocal agreement, which effectively took hold last year, is set to run until mid-September 2026, opening a new chapter in tourism between the two nations.