Visas for Russia no longer needed for South Africans - conference opportunities

Colourful flowers in the streets of St Petersburg, Russia, in summertime

It was announced only a few days ago that South Africans would no longer need visas to visit the Russian Federation. This is excellent news. In the past, it was very difficult to get a visa to visit Russia and people had to present an impressive list of documents in person to the embassy. This strict requirement seemed strange to me as Russia had good relationships with the freedom fighters of Africa and South Africa and why would these severe restrictions be in place when South Africa is governed by those freedom fighters on the one hand and both South Africa and Russia are BRICS partners? Well, at last the good news came and academics can look forward to awesome conference opportunities within the Russian Federation.

If you hurry with an abstract and you can get it submitted before the end of today (15 March), you could be travelling to Moscow to attend and present at the 14th African Studies Conference, presented by the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Science from 17 to 20 October 2017 on the theme "Africa and Africans in national, regional and global dimensions." Abstracts can be in either English or Russian, 300 words in length and linked to any of the following broad categories. Each of these eight categories have sub categories (so look on the web page if you are interested).
Cultures and Languages
Economics
Global issues
History
International relations (including BRICS)
Migrations and Diasporas
Social issues.

I also saw on the web page that people are encouraged to make their own reservations for accommodation. When we visited St Petersburg, we were not allowed to step on Russian soil without a professional guide. Hopefully, this chaperoning will also end and tourists will be allowed to roam this beautiful country on their own if they want to.