Moscow warned Turkey about possible hijacking of the plane in advance

Some 10 days ago, Russian law enforcement agencies gave the Turkish special services links to a group of people, among which there were two terrorists who were preparing to hijack a Russian passenger plane in Istanbul, a source in the crisis headquarters set up in Moscow under an order from President Vladimir Putin has said. This hijacking operation in Istanbul was planned by Khattab, a well-known Chechen warlord, the source said. The number of victims in this incident could have been even higher if the plane's crew had not managed to trick the hijackers and contact the Saudi Arabian storm group, which was preparing to free the passengers, Interfax cites the source as saying. "These contacts, which risked the pilots' lives, saved the lives of many hostages," the source said. In the meantime, experts say this terrorist act may have a negative impact in the future on Russian tourism to Turkey, due to safety concerns for Russians.