From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji

Panaji, Nov 30: Hours after a news agency report claimed that Russia had struck off Goa from its list of safe destinations, the representative of Russian government denied the same.

Russian Information Centre head in Goa Ekaterina Belyakova on Sunday said Russia has not removed India or Goa from the list of safe destinations. She said authorities 'did not discuss Goa or India in the safe destination list'.

The RIC in a damage control mission issued press note on Sunday clarifying the situation.

Belyakova quoting her previous statement said, "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 that Russian government only discussed the list of countries recommended for visits."

The RIC has said certain part of her statement were 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 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," she added.

"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."

The RIC has said, "With Turkey and Egypt being off the radar for Russians, if India can become a friendly country and capitalize on the opportunity, at least some part of 7 million tourists can think of travelling to Goa."