- Russia and San Marino working on visa-free travel deal.
- Russia-San Marino visa-free travel agreement to be signed soon.
- Tourism between San Marino and Russia is popular, according to Minister Lavrov.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced today after talks with visiting San Marino’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Luca Beccari, that an agreement on visa-free travel regime between the two countries is almost completed and will be officially ratified in the nearest future.
“We have an agreement in principle to speed up the work on an intergovernmental agreement on visa-free trips for the two countries’ citizens. The agreement is almost ready and I think we will organize its signing soon,” Russian Foreign Minister said.
According to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, Russia hopes that as soon as the sanitary and epidemiological situation normalizes, the sides will “enliven tourist exchanges, which are very popular.”
San Marino is a mountainous microstate surrounded by north-central Italy. Among the world’s oldest republics, it retains much of its historic architecture. On the slopes of Monte Titano sits the capital, also called San Marino, known for its medieval walled old town and narrow cobblestone streets. The Three Towers, castlelike citadels dating to the 11th century, sit atop Titano’s neighboring peaks.
San Marino is not a member of the European Union or European Economic Area. However, it maintains an open border with Italy. Since San Marino is only accessible via Italy entrance is not possible without entering the Schengen Area first and therefore Schengen visa rules apply de facto. Foreign visitors staying more than 10 days in San Marino must have a permit from the government.
San Marino signs independent visa-free agreements which are of symbolic value for foreign citizens but do have effect on San Marino passport holders.[1] San Marino has signed such visa-free agreements with Argentina, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, China, Finland, Hungary, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom for ordinary passport holders.
In addition, agreements were also signed with Azerbaijan, Gambia, Moldova, Eswatini, Tunisia, Turkey, and Uganda for diplomatic and service passport holders.
