This thread is getting very confusing. The fast easy way to get a visa is to pay the $30-$40 for an invitation then mail it with the application to the embassy a month or 2 before your departure with the visa fee, and don't forget to register your visa with the company that got you the invitation in your first few days in Moscow.

I like gotorussia.com you will have your invitation in hand within 24 hours.


That said their are a many other ways to get a visa, some of them very difficult and confusing. The worst way is for your friends in Russia to go to the government office apply for an invitation, wait weeks or months, send you the origonal copy by fed-ex because the mail doesn't work and you apply using that invitation.