EU, US, Australian, Japanese and many other nationals need a visa to enter Russia. Basic visa categories are similar to most countries: tourism, business, work, visiting friends, temporary residence. 90/180 rule apply to most visas.

90/180 days stay rule also apply to visa-free nationals visiting on most categories since January 2014.

US citizens may benefit from US-Russian agreement of Sept 2012 and obtain comfortable 3 (three) year visas, exempt of 90/180 rule and good for continuous 6 month stay. Practically, such visa entitles its holder to a maximum stay of 3 years minus 5-6 days in Russia.

Citizens of some EU countries that signed bi-lateral agreements with Russia may benefit from facilitated visa process. They may be invited directly by their business partners bypassing internal Immigration Office invitation process.