Russia’s federal tourism agency on Wednesday issued a warning that Islamic State jehadis were planning to abduct Russian citizens in Turkey.
“According to the competent agencies, leaders of the IS terrorist group plan to take hostages from among Russian citizens in Turkey,” it said in a statement.
“Hostages can be transferred on to territories controlled by militants to hold public executions and to be used as human shields in combat with Syrian Government and coalition forces,” it added.
“Therefore we draw the attention of all independent tourists departing for Turkey to the necessity of taking all possible measures to ensure personal security.”
Turkey had been Russia’s number one foreign tourism destination for years but this came to an abrupt end following the shooting down of a Russian military plane by Turkish jets on the Syria-Turkey border in November.