India Russia are contemplating visa-free travel between by the end of year. Consultations on a bilateral agreement to ease travel between the nations will begin in June of this year, says a Russian Minister of Economic Development official to Russian media outlet.

India is “at the final stage of internal state coordination”, Nikita Kondratyev told the news agency, with the first discussions on a draft agreement in June and a signing by year’s end.

Russia and India are set to conduct their first discussion on initiating a visa-free group tourist exchange in June, with plans to sign a bilateral agreement by the end of this year, Nikita Kondratyev, director of the Department of Multilateral Economic Cooperation and Special Projects at Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development.