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Reserve plane carries parts to fix Il-96-300 stuck in Lisbon

Press secretary of the presidential staff, Elena Krylova, told TASS the reserve plane is on its way to Portugal now

MOSCOW, November 19. /TASS/. The president’s staff decided not to fix the Russian plane stuck in Lisbon and to take the presidential delegation and media to Peru by a reserve plane coming from Moscow.

Press secretary of the presidential staff, Elena Krylova, told TASS the reserve plane is on its way to Portugal now.

"So that not to delay the passengers, and not to wait to the time the disorder is fixed, the decision is the delegation and the media will continue the trip on board the reserve plane (which has left Moscow)," she said, adding the staff’s counter-agent is Aeroflot, which cares for passengers on the ground in case of emergency situation.

TASS said earlier, a reserve plane of the Rossiya special flight group left Moscow for Lisbon to deliver everything necessary for fixing the Il-96-300, which was taking a part of President Vladimir Putin’s delegation and reporters to Lima, but still has to remain in Lisbon due to a failure. A disorder was reported in the aircraft’s ignition unit.

"Specialists could not fix the failure on the spot as they did not have necessary parts, which will be delivered from Moscow by a reserve plane," she said, expressing apologies for the inconveniences.

The disorder was found as the plane with a part of the Russian delegation to Lima stopped for fueling in Portugal. The captain told the passengers the flight could continue as necessary spare parts are delivered from Moscow - no earlier than at 18:009 Moscow time on November 19. The flight duration from Lisbon to Lima is about 11 hours.

Earlier, that plane was met by the Swiss Air Force fighters in that country’s air space. The fighters escorted the Russian plane to the border with France. No incidents were during the flight in the area of responsibility of the Swiss Air Force, but appearance of the fighters close to the plane caused clear disarray on board the Russian plane.

A part of the delegation took another plane of the Rossiya special flight group, including the presidential media and the TASS correspondent. Thus, the Russian media will be working at the APEC summit in Lima and will cover work of President Vladimir Putin.