FLIGHTS

MOSCOW
Airlines
Aeroflot	Air France	Austrian Airlines	BMI
British Airways	Finnair	Lufthansa	KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Malev Hungarian Airlines	Czech Airlines	Scandinavian Airlines	Swiss Int Airlines
Transaero	Turkish Airlines

ST PETERSBURG
Airlines
Air France	Austrian Airlines	British Airways	Czech Airlines
Finnair	Lufthansa	KLM Royal Dutch Airlines	Malev Hungarian Airlines
Rossiya-Russian Airlines	Scandinavian Airlines

VISAS

To obtain a Russian visa, you need:

1. Your Passport
2. 1 x Passport-type photo
3. Application form
4. Invitation

The information below is accurate for British passport holders. Other nationalities may pay higher fees and/or face further restrictions on acceptability of invitations etc. They may also need to supply further documentation. Please contact us for details.

The Russian Consulate is open 0900-1230 Mon to Fri. Visas issued on the day of application are collected 1600-1700. The fee charged by the consulate depends on how quickly you need the visa issued. Your passport will remain with the Consulate during this period. The scale of fees is below, but be aware that, during busy periods such as June/July,the timescales can be more aspiration than reality. Those paying the £45 fee may find themselves waiting for upto 3 weeks:

NEW EMBASSY FEES FROM 12FEB2007 (Prices in pounds sterling)
Processing Time:	Same Day	6 days
Single Entry	95	45
Double Entry	105	55
Multiple Entry	160	110

Passports

Must be your actual passport(photocopies no longer allowed). Must be valid for six months beyond dates of trip and have at least one blank page for attachment of the visa.

Application form

There are still some old Soviet Union forms in circulation - these are not valid.  The latest version of the form must be completed online.  Please call or email us for the relevant link.

Invitations

There are various types of visa - determined by the type of invitation. The most common are:

Business visa

The invitation will be one of two types: either a letter/fax from the inviting organisation or an official invitation issued by the Russian Foreign or Interior Ministries.

Letters

The letter type invitation has been almost entirely phased out. Very few organisations are still accredited to issue them and each one has to be referred to the Consulate on a case-by-case basis.

Ministry Invitations

All other types of invitation must be issued through one of the the Ministries. Be aware that:
Your Russian partners must invest time and effort with the Ministry :The Ministry charges a fee : It takes time - 2-5 days for single/double and 14-28 days for multi.  Ministry invitations can be certificate or telex. Certificate: for single or double, a faxed copy is acceptable; for multi the original is required. Telex: as it's an internal electronic document, no copy is required (but it can sometimes be helpful to have the telex number)

Tourist visa

Tourist visas are only issued to those booking accommodation for the duration of their stay. The booking must be made through a registered Russian tour operator or hotel and be paid for. The Russian supplier must provide you with their own confirmation and an official confirmation on a form provided to them by the Foreign Ministry. In practice, the simplest method is to make your booking through a company such as Scott's Tours which will obtain the necessary paperwork from Russia. If you need accommodation, this is the simplest visa to obtain as it removes the need for an invitation as such.

Private visa

A Russian national living in Russia can apply to their local "OVIR" (department of visas and registration) office to issue a personal invitation. The OVIR will issue an official document as the invitation. There are three disadvantages to this type:It takes anywhere from three weeks to three months to be issued; the original document (not a fax copy) has to be presented to the Consulate; it involves a large amount of your inviter's time in Russia.

Transit visa

The only type of visa not requiring any paperwork from Russia. A transit visa is for a maximum of 72 hours and is issued on presentation of airline tickets to a third country routed via Moscow. Transit visas can be purchased on the spot in Moscow Sheremetyevo and St Petersburg Pulkovo 2 airports. However, passengers travelling from western countries will not be allowed boarding by most airlines unless in possession of a visa. The visa should be obtained before travelling. A passenger travelling from, for example, Almaty, will be able to fly in without a visa and obtain one in Sheremetyevo or Pulkovo( not if flying into other airports). It should be remembered, however, that there are many ways for this to go wrong. This method should only be used when there is no alternative.

HOTELS

City	Hotel	Single room	Twin room
Moscow	Ararat Park Hyatt	from £282 to £386	from £334 to £448
	Baltschug Kempinski	£197 to £286	£230 to £313
	Cosmos	£70 to £98	£76 to £110
	Golden Ring	£141	£158
	Iris Congress	£82	£97
	Katerina City	£74 to £120	£100 to £150
	Metropol	£161 to £209	£182 to £205
	National	£149 to £197	£221 to £294
	Ritz Carlton	£297 to £423+	£352 to £479+
St Petersburg	Angleterre	122-143	160-182
	Astoria	142-166	182-208
	Deson Ladoga	62	76
	Grand Europe	160-244	190-270
	Moskva	31-44	42-54
	Nevsky Palace	149-209	168-226
	Pribaltiskaya	32-56	40-66
	Pulkovskaia	33-69	42-80
	St Petersburg unrenovated	39-44	50-60
	St Petersburg renovated	70	84
Irkutsk	Baikal Business	73-82	105-120
	Intourist	53-72	65-80
Ekaterinburg	Atrium Palace	134-147	265-285
	Oktyabrskaia	35	49
Kaliningrad	Chaika	49-70	55-75
Khabarovsk	Intourist	64-78	65-81
Rostov on Don	Intourist	50	60
Samara	Rossiya	57	65

See ABTA website for details of protection provided