Russia has introduced visa-free entry for Vietnamese citizens as it tries to replace Western tourists who have largely stopped coming since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Euronews reports. Visits from EU countries are said to have fallen from just over five million in 2019 to about 160,000 last year, with sanctions, card payment restrictions and the loss of direct flights cutting off most leisure travel.
The decree signed by Vladimir Putin covers tourists, business travellers and transit passengers, but not people seeking to work, study or live in Russia. Russian tour operators expect Vietnamese arrivals, already up 69% in the first half of 2026, to rise further. Moscow also opened reciprocal visa-free travel with China last year, though Chinese arrivals have lagged official forecasts.
Source: Euronews
