A Tu-204 aircraft of the Presidential Property Management Department has taken off from Moscow's Vnukovo Airport towards Turkey, according to Flightradar data.
The plane will land at Ankara airport at around five o'clock in the evening. At the same time, a US Air Force Lockheed Martin C-130J-30 Super Hercules is flying towards Turkey from Ramstein Air Base in Berlin. Its exact landing location is unknown.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Turkey has become an important intermediary in prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine, as well as Western countries. In the spring of 2022, American Trevor Reed was exchanged in Ankara for Russian pilot Viktor Yaroshenko, convicted in the United States. And in the fall of 2022, Turkey exchanged captured Azovstal defenders for Vladimir Putin's godfather Viktor Medvedchuk.
Updated at 15:15. The news originally spoke of two Russian planes flying towards Turkey. However, one of them landed in Sochi, which is why the headline was changed.