MOSCOW

Just weeks after resuming full flight service to Turkey, Russia on Monday decided to boost the number of direct flights to Turkey.

Thirteen more cities were allowed to resume direct flights to Turkey from July 12 -- with an additional destination of the Aegean city of Izmir -- the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency said in a statement.

"From July 12, 2021, Russian and Turkish airlines will be able to operate flights from 45 international airports in Russia, including from Barnaul, Belgorod, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kaluga, Krasnodar, Lipetsk, Nalchik, Orenburg, Saratov, Sochi, Tyumen, and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk," it said.

On June 22, Russia resumed air traffic with Turkey, and currently, 10 Russian airlines carry out flights to five Turkish destinations -- Istanbul, Ankara, and Antalya provinces as well as Mugla's Dalaman and Bodrum districts.