Chinese citizens will now be able to visit Russia for tourism or business purposes for a period of up to 30 days without a visa.
President Vladimir Putin made this decree on December 1, 2025, and the visa-free regime has already been implemented.
According to the decree, Chinese ordinary passport holders visiting for tourism or business will be able to enter and stay in Russia to engage in scientific, cultural, public, political, economic, and sporting events and transit through the country without a visa.
The visa exemption will be in effect until September 14, 2026, as a reciprocal measure to Beijing’s move to waive visas for Russian citizens to China.
China’s Foreign Ministry announced in September that Russian nationals would be granted visa-free access to the country for up to 30 days until September 14, 2026.
However, the new rules do not apply for travel to Russia for employment, study, or residence. Chinese nationals employed in the logistics and transport sector are not covered in the latest measure as well. Chinese citizens will need to apply for relevant visas for the abovementioned purposes.
The new policy is set to boost tourism arrivals by 30 to 40 percent during the peak summer season, according to Alexander Musikhin, the vice-president for inbound tourism of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia.
Nikita Kondratyev, an official from Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development, affirmed the latest move, saying, “China currently ranks as the top country abroad in terms of the number of tourist trips to Russia. We expect that, with the visa exemption in place, over 2 million Chinese tourists will visit Russia as early as next year.”