Tourist Visas
Tourist visas are best for short visits. According to Russian law it is illegal for a hotel to provide you with an invitation if you are not going to stay there but this law is broken more often than it is followed. Many agencies can get you a visa and have it registered without a night booked in a hotel, and many hotels will give you an invitation and register it even if you're only staying with them for part of your trip.

Prices for processing Russian visas vary according to the applicant's citizenship and the embassy/consulate applied to. Perhaps in response to the trials the U.S. Embassy in Moscow puts Russian visa applicants through (see articles), U.S. citizens routinely pay more for Russian visas.

General Russian Visa Resources

Visa Advice from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow
http://usembassy.state.gov/posts/rs1/wwwhca5.html

Russian Embassy in the U.S.:
www.russianembassy.org
Russian Consulate in New York: www.ruscon.com

Russian Embassy in Canada:
www.magma.ca/~rusemb/

Consulate locator; this page has contact information for Russian consulates and embassies all over the world:
www.russianembassy.net/

RussiaGateway.com
www.russiagateway.com

In Switzerland:
Ziegler & Partner http://studyrussian.com/MGU/visa_application.html

In the United Kingdom:
Russia Link www.russialink.couk.com/embassy/visa_support.htm

Russiadirect
www.russia.direct.dial.pipex.com/index.shtml

In the United States:
Go to Russia Travel www.gotorussia.net/

Complete Visa Center
Intelservice Center and its Visa to Russia service
www.intelservice.ru
www.visatorussia.com

Travel Document Systems
www.traveldocs.com

In Australia:
Gateway Travel www.russian-gateway.com.au

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