+1 to Chris's comment about getting the Russian visa in your home country.
It is an expensive, time-consuming, and complex process to get a Russian visa - you need to start the process about 6 weeks before your planned departure.
I have had several Russian visas in the past 5 years, the fastest I ever got one (in Canada, my home country) was 29 days, the slowest took 37 days. That was from the time I sent in the very first piece of paperwork until the time I got my passport back with the visa in it.
You don't have to surrender your passport for that entire period of time, but be aware that there is no way - for love or money - to speed the process up.
Michael
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