Hundreds Of Russian Tourists Are Stranded In Minsk

• 16.08.2026, 20:53

They were flying to Turkey.

About 200 passengers on a Turkish Airlines flight from Bodrum, Turkey, to Moscow were stranded at the Minsk airport. The reason was that the plane was unable to land at Vnukovo, according to RBC reports, citing one of the passengers on the flight.

According to the tourist, the plane was supposed to arrive at Vnukovo at 2:55 a.m. Moscow time, but due to restrictions at the Russian capital’s airport, it landed in Minsk around 5:00 a.m.

The Turkish Airlines office in Belarus informed passengers that the airline could not operate the flight from Minsk to Moscow “due to customs restrictions” imposed by Russia. As an alternative, passengers on the flight were provided with “ground transportation.”

The duty officer at Vnukovo Customs declined to comment to RBC.

The TV channel notes that Moscow and the Moscow Region were subjected to drone attacks overnight, and flight restrictions were imposed at the capital’s airports. Vnukovo was closed to flights at 2:45 a.m. Moscow time and resumed operations approximately four hours later. As a result, from midnight until 6:00 a.m. on August 16, 19 flights bound for Vnukovo landed at other airports. Later, the airport’s press office reported that more than ten planes had returned to Vnukovo.