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Russian tourists, stuck in Turkey, to be brought home within two days - ministry

According to the ministry, more than 20 Russian and foreign flights will take tourists from Turkey on October 1

© Tatyana Belyakova/TASS

MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. Russian tourists, who still remain in Turkey waiting for planes to bring them home, will leave for home on October 2 latest, press service of the Russian Ministry of Transport said on Sunday.

"The tourists remaining in Turkey are expected to be taken home on October 2," the press service said.

According to the ministry, more than 20 Russian and foreign flights will take tourists from Turkey on October 1.

On Saturday, VIM Airlines served 3,300 passengers, including about 2,000 - from Turkey. On September 30, VIM Airline’s 5,700 passengers were transported.

Russia’s tenth largest carrier announced on September 25 that it was stopping all charter flight operations due to financial problems and shortage of the working capital. The announcement was preceded by a series of flight delays in Russian and foreign airports.

The air carrier obliged to transport more than 200,000 passengers before the end of this year.

The Federal Air Transport Agency has initiated an unscheduled inspection of VIM Airlines. According to the agency, substantial flight delays were linked to the company’s debts to fueling companies. The agency says that the VIM Airlines debt arrears had amounted to seven billion rubles ($121.638mln).

The Russian Investigative Committee has launched a criminal case into a suspected large-scale embezzlement by some of the company’s officials.

On Friday, a Moscow court has placed director general of Russia’s debt-laden VIM Airlines, Alexander Kochnev, who is charged with embezzling the company’s funds, under home arrest till November 25. Earlier in the day, the company’s chief accountant Yekaterina Panteleyeva was also placed under home arrest, also till November 25.

According to investigators, the company’s top managers have been drawing funds from the company’s accounts with an aim of their further embezzlement. Apart from that, being unable to serve its passenger the company continued to sell tickets.

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