(Image source from: Russia Official Says India Or Goa Not Removed From Safe Destinations List})

Russian Information Centre head in Goa, Ekaterina Belyakova has stated that Russia did not remove India or Goa from the safe destinations list. However, the authorities 'did not discuss Goa or India in the safe destination list'.

The official said in a statement that, "In our previous statement, we have noted that Russian authorities did not discuss including Goa or India in the list of 'safe' destinations recommended by Russian government to Russian tourists. We say (sic) that Russian government only discussed the list of countries recommended for visits (holidays)."

Belyakova said that few parts of her statement on Russian charter tourist arrivals in Goa have been misrepresented. "Our statement did not have any information regarding removal of India from the list of 'safe' countries' or including India in the list of 'unsafe countries' as was mentioned in several reports in Indian media.

According to a TOI report, "Unfortunately, both India and Goa, is not discussed as a promising direction for Russian travelers."

Adding that the earlier statement said, "According to the news agency INTERFAX, November 26, 2015, first deputy speaker of the Parliament of the Russian Federation, Ivan Melnikov, offered to convene a 'roundtable' to make proposals to improve the availability of new, safe tourist destinations for Russians - such as Cuba, south Vietnam and southern China".  This is the quote from Interfax, and India is not discussed here.

"The main focus of our statement was to show the prospects for Goa that will open if Goa becomes an alternative destination instead if Egypt and Turkey," Belyakova said.

In last two years, certain incidents like increasing price levels, fights with rude taxi drivers made it difficult for Russians to choose Goa as a holiday destination of choice.

According to her, if India can become a friendly country capitalizing on the opportunity, at least some of the 7 million tourists may choose to travel to Goa.

"Whether Goa is ready to host so many Russians and will India really become one of the "friendly countries" that was mentioned by the vice-speaker of the Russian parliament? Would taxi drivers not overprice and not be rude, seeing a white man, and the owners of houses and hotels give discounts to Russians who come always for more than 10 days of holidays," she asked.

-Sumana