All Russian tourists, who are still in Bulgaria, will be taken home, according to the promise of Transport Minister, Ivaylo Moskovski, made Wednesday.

"We should never allow such thing to happen again," Moskovski is cited saying by the news agency BGNES, all while informing that Bulgaria Air, the national carrier, hair of Balkan Airlines, is taking 139 Russians to St. Petersburg on a flight departing at 6 pm from the airport in the Black Sea city of Varna, with a delay of 5 days.

The agreement has been reached after four hours of negotiations between Bulgaria's Civil Aviation, Bulgaria Air and Russian tour operators.

The transportation expenses will be paid for by a Russian tour operator, while the Bulgarian one – Alma Tour will provide buses to take the Russian tourists from the city of Burgas and the nearby Sunny Beach resort to Varna.

Moskovski further explained that there are two more flights – on September 16 and 23 and negotiations on them are ongoing, adding both companies – Bulgaria Air and Alma Tour, are at fault for the crisis, but the only valid decisions will come after the conclusion of the probe of the Prosecutor's Office.

The Transport Minister also stressed that Bulgaria Air is servicing all its regular flights to Russia and there are seats available for everyone who would want to board a regular flight.

"Currently, we believe that if they continue to move in this direction and fulfill their commitments and transport these tourists, most likely there would not be any drastic measures as far as sanctions are concerned," Moskovski said.

He pointed out that the flight of the government aircraft, which took Russians home on the order of Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, had been purely humanitarian and it was a matter of State pride and personal commitment of Borisov to take care of families with small children, ill people and pregnant women.

Some 700 Russians, 200 Finns and dozens of persons from Lithuania waited for days to get home after their flights were canceled Friday and Saturday, due to an alleged EUR 3.6 M debt to national carrier Bulgaria Air from operator Alma Tours.

85 Russian tourists remain in Burgas as of Wednesday from a total of 175 in Bulgaria with the majority being residents of St. Petersburg. The Russian Federal Aviation Agency is negotiating with Russian carriers to take them home.

The Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office and the business police are probing both Alma Tour and Bulgaria Air. Chief Prosecutor, Boris Velchev, says this is no longer a dispute between two companies because Bulgaria's reputation is at stake.

Moskovski, stated earlier that in case the crisis deepens, the cabinet will sanction both companies and could even revoke Bulgaria Air's license.

On Tuesday, Bulgaria Air announced it had started legal actions to collect the EUR 3.6 M owed to it by Alma Tour.

After the staggering criticism, the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, announced that the country is already "a failed tourist destination."

"Bulgaria crashed in the very eyes of thousands of foreigners – incompetency is just one of the symbols of the rule of the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, GERB, party," former Interior Minister and BSP Member of the Parliament, Rumen Petkov, declared from the parliamentary tribune.

BSP are also demanding the resignations of the Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism, Traicho Traikov, and his Deputy for Tourism, Ivo Marinov, for their failure to deal with the crisis.

In order to rescue the otherwise very strong tourist season, hotel owners in Bulgaria's largest summer resort Sunny Beach decided to accommodate, free of charge, the tourists stranded in Burgas. They are also considering inviting the tourists who spent days at the airport of the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Burgas on a free vacation in June next year.