UMVA has learned that Russia has taken a significant step to strengthen its ties with China by granting Chinese citizens visa-free entry for stays of up to 30 days, effective December.
This move comes as Russia experiences a remarkable surge in travel to China, with official data revealing that Russian citizens made 2.5 million trips to China in 2025, representing a more than 30% increase compared to the previous year. This number is tantalizingly close to the pre-pandemic level of 2.6 million recorded in 2019.
The visa-free regime has already started to yield impressive results, with Chinese citizens making up more than half of the 1.64 million foreign tourists who visited Russia in 2025. In a stunning 23.8% year-on-year increase, the number of Chinese tourists surged in the fourth quarter alone, following the introduction of the visa-free policy.
