From RIA NOVISTI

The British Charge d'Affaires in Moscow has vowed to ease conditions for visa applications for Russians entering the UK.
The refusal rate for visa applications has been very low recently, and the issuing of UK visas will become much faster, Dennis Keefe told an investment forum in Moscow.
The issue will be particularly urgent next year, Keefe said, when London hosts the Olympic Games and expects an influx of visitors.
Russia has been pressing hard for a relaxation of visa arrangements with Britain, and has sought a bilateral visa-free regime with the whole of the European Union.
Last week, President Dmitry Medvedev described the situation with European visas as a “hangover from the past” and called for the eventual scrapping of EU-Russian visa requirements.



To read the complete article click

On a different note, the graphics in the article make an interesting comparison (pages per application, questions per application, etc) ... puts the requirements of getting a Russian visa into some context.

To watch a video of Dmitry Medvedev talking about the subject (Dubbed into English)
The link to the video is also available in the RIA NOVISTI article.

I think the above post from RIA Novosti (The Kremlin's mouth peace) is nothing more than the usual propaganda coming out from Russia.

How many times have we heard the same comments and nothing happened? ..................... RIA Novosti headquarter in Moscow

Both Governments are not prepared to make the visa process much easier, each for it's own reasons and regarding the application form, they match step by step in the number of questions. Remember the smoke screen of the Litvienko case, giving them the excuse to do nothing?

The Coalition British Government want to show the British people how well and tough they manage immigration, despite the various lapses in security we have seen lately! On the other hand the Russians demand to be treated as equals, still harbouring superpower ideas, while they do nothing to improve their systems.

The visa industry is a huge one, taken into consideration the very large number of agencies involved and looking the numbers of visas issued, that you have posted, it is very clear that both Governments make huge amounts of money, probably big enough to support all the running costs of having an Embassy and a Consulate in the respective countries.

The video statement was made by the President at the end of the Rostov-no-Danu summit and that was over a year ago.

Did we see any improvements in the Visa front?

None as far as I am aware.

Take a look at the Ukrainian side and you will find out the benefits for their country that were brought by their decision to abolish the Visa requirement for Europeans and Americans. Their tourist arrivals increased ten fold since the abolition of the Visa.

The current Russian Government still has the same mentality and lives in the USSR years!