Russian President Vladimir Putin decided on Friday to suspend all flights to Egypt until the cause behind the plane crash is determined. Most of the 224 people onboard were Russian tourists. “We will have nothing but a few Ukrainians and Belarusians”, he said by telephone.
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Hammond, speaking from the United Nations in NY, said the U.K. was willing to resume flights to Sharm el-Sheikh, but added, “That will depend on us working together with the Egyptian authorities and with the airlines to put in place security arrangements which are robust”. Dozens of airliners have been bringing Russian tourists back home, carrying only cabin baggage, while Russian cargo planes are hauling back the rest of their luggage.
Meanwhile, Islamic State militants fighting security forces in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula have said they brought down the Airbus A321, which crashed 23 minutes after taking off from the resort of Sharm al-Sheikh a week ago en route to St. Petersburg.
Members of a Russian search and rescue team that was brought to Egypt after the October 31 Russian plane crash in the Sinai Peninsula have left the country to return to Moscow.
Possibility of a ban on flights for Russians, not only to Egypt but also to other potentially risky countries, was discussed at a meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Monday, Kommersant newspaper wrote.
Sisi, who has dismissed the claim as “propaganda”, said on his surprise visit to Sharm el-Sheikh that only the official probe could determine the cause.
The head of Cairo’s global airport, Maj.
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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pledged a transparent probe into the Russian plane crash and cautioned against hasty conclusions, during a visit Wednesday to the airport from where the doomed aircraft took off.
