Russia ‘could restore Turkish tour operators’ licenses within week’

MOSCOW

DHA photo

Russia could restore the licenses of Turkish-owned tour operators that were revoked as part of Moscow’s sanctions against Turkey, the RIA Novosti news agency reported on Jan. 11.Russia’s federal tourism agency Rostourism is currently studying documents submitted by the tour companies and will make a decision on the matter soon, RIA Novosti reported, citing Izo Arakhamiya, the head of Rostourism’s legal department.“Considering such documents usually takes about five working days. If the papers prove that the companies are not controlled by Turkish nationals, they will be reinstated in the federal registry of tour operators,” Arakhamiya added, as quoted by the Moscow Times.Rostourism on Dec. 30, 2015 excluded 19 tour operators with beneficiaries from Turkey from the Uniform Federal register, in accordance with the presidential decree and the decree of the government of the Russian Federation.The measure affected major travel companies including Coral Travel, Anex Tour, Sunmar and Pegas Touristik.Russia has introduced a raft of economic sanctions against Turkey since that latter’s downing of a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border in November 2015.Among the restrictions is the suspension of charter flights from Russia to Turkey.