<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by asnovici:
By the way, process for getting a Russian visa is not at all cumbersome (if it is a tourist visa). You need an invitation (can be a telex from a hotel, takes 10 minutes to transmit, just make a reservation at the hotel, have them transmit the invitation by telex or fax to the nearesr Russian Consulate, and voila, you are ready to apply).
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While I agree with you that there are many non-economic reasons for issuing visas, I would strongly disagree that the process for getting a Russian tourist visa is "not at all cumbersome." The fact that one must know his itinerary in advance, in particular at which hotels he will be staying each day of the trip AND make those hotel bookings AND include confirmations of those bookings with the application, is already way too cumbersome. Compare that to backpacking through Europe or making spur-of-the-moment travel plans. (This is all assuming US citizenship of course.)
Alex