Source: Federal Agency for Tourism - https://tourism.gov.ru/en/contents/turistam/transport
01.07.2021
Restriction of entry to the territory of the Russian Federation
According to the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation №635-R of March 16, 2020 for the purpose of ensuring state security, protecting public health and non-proliferation of a new coronavirus infection entry to the territory of the Russian Federation is restricted until further notice.
List of countries with which Russian Federation resumes international air service:
Abkhazia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Albania
Armenia
Belarus
the United Kingdom
Hungary
Venezuela
Vietnam
Germany
Greece
Egypt
India
Iceland
Kazakhstan
Qatar
Kyrgyzstan
Korea
Cuba
Lebanon
Luxembourg
Mauritius
Maldives
Malta
Morocco
Mexico
United Arab Emirates
Portugal
Saudi Arabia
Seychelles
Serbia
Singapore
Syria
Tajikistan
Tanzania (suspended till June 21)
Turkey (suspended till June 21)
Uzbekistan
Finland
Croatia
Switzerland
Sri Lanka
Ethiopia
Japan
Visas of all categories shall be issued only to citizens of these countries, as well as to persons who have a residence permit or any other document proving the right of permanent residence.
Entry to the Russian Federation of foreign citizens of other countries, as well as stateless persons, is restricted until further notice. The issuance of tourist visas, including visas in the form of an electronic document, has also been temporarily suspended.
Tour operators operating in the field of international inbound tourism, in the current situation, are able to postpone the dates of travel of foreign tourists with their consent.
TRANSPORT
According to the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation №635-R of March 16, 2020 for the purpose of ensuring state security, protecting public health and non-proliferation of a new coronavirus infection entry to the territory of the Russian Federation is restricted until further notice.
List of countries with which Russian Federation resumes international air service:
Abkhazia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Albania
Armenia
Belarus
Belgium
Bulgaria
the United Kingdom
Hungary
Venezuela
Vietnam
Germany
Greece
Egypt
India
Iceland
Ireland
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Qatar
Kyrgyzstan
Korea
Cuba
Lebanon
Luxembourg
Mauritius
Maldives
Malta
Morocco
Mexico
North Macedonia
United Arab Emirates
Portugal
Saudi Arabia
Seychelles
Serbia
Singapore
Syria
Tajikistan
Tanzania (suspended till July 19)
Turkey
Uzbekistan
Finland
Croatia
Switzerland
Sri Lanka
Ethiopia
Japan
Visas of all categories shall be issued only to citizens of these countries, as well as to persons who have a residence permit or any other document proving the right of permanent residence.
Entry to the Russian Federation of foreign citizens of other countries, as well as stateless persons, is restricted until further notice. The issuance of tourist visas, including visas in the form of an electronic document, has also been temporarily suspended.
Tour operators operating in the field of international inbound tourism, in the current situation, are able to postpone the dates of travel of foreign tourists with their consent.
Air transport
The State Register of Civil Aviation Airfields and Heliports of the Russian Federation contains 247 facilities including 77 international airfields with open border crossing points.
The busiest airports of Russia by passenger traffic:
1) Sheremetyevo (Moscow) SVO/UUEE
2) Domodedovo (Moscow) DME/UUDD
3) Vnukovo (Moscow) VKO/UUWW
4) Pulkovo (Saint Petersburg) LED/ULLI
5) Sochi (Sochi) AER/URSS
6) Tolmachevo (Novosibirsk) OVB/UNNT
7) Koltsovo (Yekaterinburg) SVX/USSS
8) Simferopol (Simferopol) SIP/UKFF
More than a half of all international and domestic passenger traffic is handled by 5 Russian airlines:
2) S7 Airlines
4) UTair
5) Pobeda
Key performance indicators of Russian airlines, including statistical information, are regularly published by the Federal Air Transport Agency.
Rail transport
The largest operator of the railway network engaged in passenger transportation in Russia is Russian Railways Joint Stock Company. This type of transport is the most popular and most affordable for travelling within the country. The length of operated railways is 85.3 thousand kilometers. Russian Railways JSC is positioned in the world top three leading railroad companies.
Currently, most railway passengers in Russia travel on suburban and intraurban trains. In Russia, there are several dozens of suburban passenger companies, most of which are subsidiaries of Russian Railways JSC.
Intermodal passenger transportation between Moscow downtown and the three airports of the Moscow aviation hub (Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo) is carried out by Aeroexpress LLC.
There is a regular train service to the countries in Europe and Asia:
1) Austria (stations on the route of the train Moscow _ Nice)
2) Germany (Moscow – Berlin)
3) China (Moscow– Beijing, Grodekovo – Sujfjen'hje, Chita – Manchuria)
4) Poland (Moscow – Warsaw)
5) Finland (Moscow – Helsinki, Saint Petersburg – Helsinki)
6) France (Moscow – Paris, Moscow – Nice)
7) Czech Republic (Moscow – Prague, Saint Petersburg – Prague)
8) Estonia (Moscow – Tallinn)
9) Italy (stations on the route of the train Moscow – Nice)
10) Latvia (Moscow – Riga)
11) Lithuania (Moscow – Vilnius, Saint-Petersburg – Vilnius, Adler – Vilnius, Chelyabinsk – Vilnius)
12) Mongolia (Moscow – Ulanbaator, Irkutsk – Ulanbaator)
13) North Korea (Moscow – Pyongyang, Moscow – Tumangan, Khabarovsk – Pyongyang, Ussuriysk – Tumangan)
Train tickets can be purchased on the official website of Russian Railways. You can see more detailed information about the routes via the link.
Public transport
Urban ground transport in Russia includes buses, trams, trolleybuses, minibuses, and other vehicles. The bus is the most popular transport used by over 11 billion passengers a year, trams and trolleybuses are used by a significantly lesser number of passengers totaling an average of 2 billion passengers a year.
Municipal enterprises usually act as urban ground transport operators in urban areas.
Mosgortrans State Unitary Enterprise is the urban ground transport operator in Moscow.
There is a taxi service in all major Russian cities. Passenger taxis must have a permit (license) to carry passengers and baggage.
The largest online taxi booking services in Russia are
1) Yandex.Taxi
2) Gett Taxi
3) Uber
About 3.5 billion passengers annually use the metro in Russia. There is a metro in seven cities:
1) Moscow
4) Novosibirsk
5) Samara
6) Ekaterinburg
7) Kazan
The Moscow Metro is the fifth in the world in terms of passenger traffic after Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, and Shanghai. Many stations of the Moscow Metro are considered as monuments of architecture.
Water transport
The length of operated inland waterways in Russia is about 100 thousand kilometers. Maritime transport is mainly used for cargo transportation. River transport in Russia is mainly concentrated in the Volga-Kama basin. The main centers of traveling on inland waterways are Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara, where the major part of the cruise fleet and tour operators who specialize in these forms of tourist services is concentrated.
The leading river cruise companies are members of River Alliance.
Further Information: https://tourism.gov.ru/en/contents/turistam/transport/
Source: WCO/Federal Customs Service
18.05.2020
1. Measures aiming to Facilitate the Cross-border Movement of Relief and Essential Supplies
1.1. The Federal Customs Service of Russia has established green lanes to ensure fast clearance of food, relief and essential supplies. Extra priority is provided to processing of any goods relating to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. For imported relief and essential supplies, green lanes are provided to minimize the clearance time.
1.2. To Customs authorities there was sent a special instruction based on risk management not to apply additional forms of customs control where customs inspections are not obligatory or necessary.
1.3. The Federal Customs Service of Russia has introduced significant facilitative measures concerning requirements of compliance to technical regulations and sanitary standards during COVID 19 pandemic.
1.4. Facilitation measures and aimed at the security and supporting continuity of the relief consignments on the basis of a list of essential items (sanitary products, medical devices/equipment and food). The Federal Customs Service of Russia has prioritized the clearance of relief consignments at the border crossing points:
- pre-arrival processing of the Goods declaration and release of the goods upon arrival has been provided;
- priority documents and information submission by the customs authority has been guaranteed.
Ultimately, customs clearance has been completely prioritized for relief goods in terms of COVID-19 pandemic countermeasures.
2. Measures aiming at Supporting the Economy and Sustaining Supply Chain Continuity
2.1. The Customs authorities adopted a decision concerning the import duties and VAT exemption on imported goods targeted to combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (protective equipment, testing kits or medical devices such as ventilators). The Federal Customs Service of Russia has introduced temporary tax relief measures such as lowering of import customs duties on medical supplies, sanitary products, testing kits, protective and medical equipment etc.
2.2. Moreover, there has been introduced temporary tax relief measures such as lowering of value-added tax on food (vegetables, rye, rice, buckwheat, child nutrition etc.).
2.3. To guarantee the supply chain continuity The Federal Customs Service of Russia has introduced several measures. There have been introduced certain facilitation measures to speed up the customs clearance and subsequent procedures for goods in transit. The local customs authorities have designated priority entry for vehicles in customs control zone and priority lanes for freight transport.
To tackle the virus outbreak and to suggest a rapid response in case of the interruption of the supply chain there has been held a daily monitoring and analysis of the clearance of:
- relief consignments on the basis of a list of essential items
- anti-epidemic supplies
- food and goods such as water
Likewise, there has been held a daily monitoring of the freight transport quantity and occurrence of queues at border crossings across the country.
3. Measures aiming at Protecting Customs administrations’ Staff
3.1. Customs authorities were instructed to have their staff working in shifts in order to prevent spreading of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Customs Administration took strict measures for protection, based on social distancing principles. All non-first line officers work from home. Field customs officers have reduced staff numbers to minimize interaction.
3.2. Personal protective equipment is distributed among staff (masks, gloves, antiseptic agents, etc.)
4. Measures aiming at Protecting Society
4.1. There have been introduced certain facilitation measures to ease the movement of medical personnel across borders. The customs authorities responsible for receiving, registration and release of goods declarations, have organized internal distribution of goods declarations among staff for imported essential goods in order of priority.
5. Other Measures
5.1. According to Government decision more than 90% of all on-site customs inspections were cancelled (as of 06/05/2020). FCS Russia conducts on-site customs inspections that are based only on information about significant violation of legislation.
Further information: http://www.wcoomd.org/-/media/wco/public/gl...