By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh

Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, has reiterated the official statement on expanding visa-free travel between Russia and Africa, signaling Kremlin’s earlier position on facilitating people-to-people movement and raising cultural interaction. The question of ‘visa-free’ travel and tourism dominated discussions during the first and second Russia-Africa summits, as a step to embrace new bilateral relations and soft-power diplomacy with Africa.

While ‘visa-free’ travel could be interpreted as a potential driver for boosting tourism business, Sergey Lavrov’s definition limited this policy only to ‘Africans holding diplomatic passports’ and largely excludes political elites and business executives looking to develop entrepreneurial connectivity to Russia. The broader ambition is to focus on Africa’s middle class, estimated at 380 million envision as the constituting a huge tourism market, which is twice Russia’s population.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has further underlined the fact that the implementation of a ‘visa-free regime’ with all African countries aims at strengthening cultural relations with the continent. That announcement filled the local Russian media from Moscow to Vladivostok. Later, the Ministry clarified that the ‘visa-free regime’ for African countries was still under serious review. Diplomatic talks with various countries on the drafts of visa-free travel agreements were underway at different stages, as each had its specific requirements. There was a need to categorise African countries into groups.

This initiative is within the framework of the Joint Action Plan (2023-2026) adopted at the second summit in St. Petersburg. From investigations, Russia has ‘visa-free agreements’ with only six African countries. The visa-free regime only applied to African countries that signed agreements with the Foreign Ministry. Within the agreements, only holders of diplomatic passports are permitted under this consular agreement. According to sources monitored, agreements would be signed after successful negotiations with Russian authorities.

The Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department, Alexey Klimov, explained in an interview with local Russian media: “Russia is currently working out travel agreements on abolishing visa requirements and providing visa-free entry for short-term trips, usually up to 90 days, with several friendly states, nine of them being the countries of Africa and the Middle East.”

“As always, we will immediately inform the public about the concrete results achieved and embodied in documented bilateral agreements,” Klimov concluded, the full transcript posted on the official ministry’s website.

With the changing times, Russia has been pursuing an integrative, multipolar approach in its relations with friendly countries around the world, including those in Africa. During these past few years, Asian countries, such as China and India, have been granted such short-term visa-free privileges. In practical terms, this policy boosts tourism. It is noticeable that Russia remains a holiday destination for Africa’s political elite, corporate business leaders, and the middle class. But undoubtedly, African politicians and corporate business leaders highly prefer to spend their vacation in the United States and Europe. Some Asian destinations are becoming increasingly popular as a preferred choice for recreation. That trend is unlikely to change; it will remain as such for the next few decades.

Tourism topic at Russia-Africa summits

Following the Russia-Africa summits, both Russia and Africa adopted joint declarations—in fact, comprehensive documents that outline various parameters for elevating cooperation to a new qualitative stage.

Tourism is one of the most highly praised spheres during discussions. Brilliant speeches called for the frequent exchange of cultural groups and the taking of comprehensive measures to promote a broad scope of cultural and tourism collaboration between Russia and Africa.

Ultimately, to boost compelling economic interests and foster cooperation, frequent interactions are necessary. The frequency of interaction should not be limited to summits and conferences alone. Some basic strategic steps and measures are also required to encourage simple holiday travels to both regions.

These are significantly missing in the current relations between Russia and Africa. Critics often argue that Russia is contributing considerably to its so-called isolation by closing its doors, especially when there are considerable opportunities to develop high-quality tourism. The African elite could visit Moscow, St. Petersburg, and coastal cities, including Sochi, as well as along the Volga River.

Indeed, playing with flexible visa regimes will not only promote tourism and strengthen cultural ties, but also, in practical terms, will build positive perceptions and further help to neutralise a high level of Western media disinformation across the continent. There is a need to adopt a pragmatic approach to these crucial questions and carefully examine social aspects to enhance people-to-people interactions.

Notably, Russian officials consider visits by heads of African states and ministers to be an essential pillar of their version of building relations in the anticipated multipolar world.

With the current geopolitical situation, Africa’s middle class, estimated at 380 million (twice the population of Russia), has suitable alternative holiday destinations. For now, Moscow and St. Petersburg are not their desired priority for spending vacations. Russian tour operators acknowledge, in a media query with this article’s author, that there is no bilateral entrepreneurial activity between Russia and the African tourism sector. However, on the other hand, African destinations such as Egypt, Morocco, the Maldives, Seychelles, South Africa, and Zanzibar are popular among Russian vacationers.

Most often, Russian and African experts have been discussing how best to promote exchanges of delegations, explore untapped resources, and explore the possibilities of boosting cooperation in the field of tourism, as well as the dissemination of information on tourism opportunities in the Russian Federation and African States.

Over the past few years, the summit declarations have remained tacitly as declarations. In practical terms, the visa-free regime for African countries has mainly remained as official declarations. The fundamental question often asked is for what purposes the summit declarations are made.

Current Tourism Challenges

Russian experts say Chinese, Indians and many Asians are the real potentials, taking advantage of the emerging opportunity to travel to Russia, more than Africa’s middle class and entrepreneurs. In addition, Africa is currently assessed as “reawakening to geopolitical changes” and less capable of taking their own development initiatives based on the huge resources on the continent.

The continent’s challenges still existed. Notwithstanding that, Africa is seemingly moving from the periphery toward the negotiating table. With tourism, engagement remains weak and fragmented. In comparison, in African and Asian tourism, that distinction matters. Africa has a demographic advantage, but the dynamics of tourism perceptions are low.

In the sense of uplifting bilateral partnerships, especially during this time at the heightening of geopolitics, Africa is not simply a reliable partner but has to be treated as such for operating at the tourism development scale. The future of the relationship can be an extremely positive lever, and to take important steps for mapping out diverse ways for its sustainability and expansion. Less arguably, Africa’s political leadership and business executives have explicitly understood the criticality of Russia’s ‘visa-free’ regime, as one of the most geopolitical rhetoric in the contemporary era.

Multifaceted relations with Russia

Russia is ready to build multifaceted relations with Africa. “If Russia Wins, Africa Wins!” remarked Azali Assoumani, President of Comoros, during the late July St. Petersburg summit plenary session in 2023.

With hopes for an enduring collaboration on long-term programs, the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum was created. And it has since been networking, intending to promote Russia’s economic interests in Africa and to foster mutually beneficial cooperation with African countries.

The Director of the Department of Partnership with Africa of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Tatiana Dovgalenko, in an interview with the TV BRICS channel on July 9, 2025, emphasised that the importance of her new department is its functionality—focus on the comprehensive, integrated development of relations between Russia and the entire African continent, which are experiencing a genuine revival today. It implies that the main task is to implement the decisions which cover a wide range of cooperation areas, including culture and tourism.

While Russian officials focus on their work aimed at increasing Russian presence in Africa, the role of Africa in the Russian Federation is vastly underestimated. At these changing times, officials have to necessarily note with mutual interest the economic presence of Africa, beyond just training students, in the Russian Federation. And, of course, promoting African tourism is not only a promising niche but also a unique pathway for sustaining bilateral cooperation.

Still on the topic of bilateral tourism, Tatiana Dovgalenko rightly pointed out that more active participation by representatives of the African tourism industry in various events in Russia, along with the introduction of visa-free travel to African countries, would help increase the tourist appeal of Africa. Within the Action Plan of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum for the period 2023-2026, it is anticipated that both Russia and Africa will hold constructive positions on mutual bilateral ties in this emerging multipolar world.