Russia to resume charter flights for tourists to Turkey

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia has lifted its ban on charter flights to Turkey, opening the way to a resumption of the package tours that were a major source of revenue for Turkey.

In rescinding the ban on Sunday, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said he was doing so on the orders of President Vladimir Putin.

Russia imposed the ban in November after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane at the Syrian border, an action that Putin denounced as a "treacherous stab in the back."

After Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologized for the downing, he and Putin patched up relations at a meeting three weeks ago. Putin said then that charter flights to Turkey could resume "in the near future," but added that painstaking work was still needed to revive trade and economic cooperation.