DIYt trip to Russia

I wouldn’t go to Russia given the current war and risk of greater conflict over Russian aggression towards NATO countries in the Baltics and Ukraine elsewhere.

biswadipss, as an American, I wouldn't be going to Russia right now because of the dangers there, although it might be different for someone from India.

Regardless, I don't think you're probably going to find much help on this forum, as I don't think there are very many people here who would be traveling to Russia. What I would suggest you do is go to the TripAdvisor or Reddit travel forums. I've listed a few below that you might want to review, and you can ask your questions there.

https://www.reddit.com/r/travel
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskARussian/
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g294459-i705-Russia.html

Thank you, Mardee - that list is a good start.
Biswadipss, I also sent you a short and no-frills list of things to do in Moscow. I also had a similar one for SPb, but can't find it now. Kazan - yes, definitely recommended. Very different from both Msk and Spb.

Once you have a better idea of your itinerary - run it by some other folks. To answer your question - there are more hoops to jump through now, but overall I don't really think that you need a travel agency. Up to you, though.

While I wouldn't suggest a trip to Russia under the present circumstances ( an unbalanced dictator in power with the possibility of massive repercussions ) I made two visits to Russia , one in 2015 for two weeks in St Petersburg , and one in 2017 - two more weeks in St Petersburg and two weeks in Moscow... We had three year visas which we obtained without using any third party agents. . The horror stories abound about obtaining the visas , but it was not so . We also made several day trips outside of Petersburg , also independently , and on public transportation , this place was one of them - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronstadt_Naval_Cathedral If you are of independent sensibilities and adventurous , it is eminently doable . However , with Putin in power ,there is obviously increased risk with a visit there . Quite a sad situation , this , because it is a beautiful place , rich in history and culture , and I'm glad we were able to visit when we did .

One further comment - While we cant speak Russian , we took the time to learn to read the Cyrillic alphabet , which proved a great advantage on our visits