16,400 hajj tickets for Russia's Muslims provided by Saudi Arabia were bought up ahead of schedule, according to RMC deputy chairman Rushan hazrat Abbyasov.
The application submission was officially to end on September 1, but the quota has already been taken up. First groups of pilgrims will depart to Mecca in September and celebrate Eid al-Adha, the culmination point of hajj, in Saudi capital on October 4. "Prior to that, pilgrims will spend one afternoon on Mount Arafat, and then, in the course of the next three days, throw pebbles into the pillars that symbolize devil", said Mr Abbyasov.
For the third year in a row, he said, the pilgrims will arrive to Mecca by airplanes. "Before that we've been sending the pilgrims by bus through troubled Syria. Now we don't have to worry about it", he said.
The pilgrimage is organized by tour operators approved by the Parliament Commission on Hajj. Around three thousand people will fly regular flights from different regions of Russia. "People from more than 64 regions will attend the hajj this year. They mostly come from Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Penza, Mordovia, Nizhny Novgorod Oblasts, Moscow and the North Caucasus", said Abbyasov.
ITAR-TASS news agency