Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call to suspend Russian flights into Egypt is “pretty much acknowledgment” that he considers the downing of a Metrojet to have been a terrorist attack, Rep. Peter King said Friday. “Putin has asked the government to develop mechanisms to realize these recommendations by the National Antiterrorism Committee and securely returning citizens of Russian Federation to their homeland”.
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Following the militant group’s allegations, a flurry of speculation on the possibility of a bomb causing the plane crash dominated media reports. The plane broke apart and fell 30,000 feet. Either way, the affair could cause big problems for Mr Putin, both in policy and in terms of Russia’s prestige.
Several flights that took off from London had to turn around or go elsewhere after Egyptian authorities told them they couldn’t land at Sharm el-Sheikh.
Besides Britain, Ireland also suspended flights to Sharm el-Sheikh on Wednesday. Cameron said it was “more likely than not” that the cause of the crash was an on-board bomb.
One official said “it’s 99.9% certain”.
British attempts to bring home thousands of stranded tourists were thrown into chaos on Friday when Egypt reduced the number of flights it would allow to take them home.
British and USA officials, guided primarily by intelligence intercepts and satellite imagery, suggested a bomb might have been aboard the aircraft. She told us reporters that it was shocking if Britain had intelligence about a probable terrorist act and it wasn’t sharing that information with Russian Federation.
Egypt’s foreign ministry told AFP on Friday that the analysis of the black boxes and wreckage had yet to finish.
Hossam Kamal, the Egyptian minister of civil aviation, said in a statement on Friday that Egypt was working with Britain, although he cautioned that the effort would be done “in the light of the resources of the airport and in accordance with global security regulations”.
The intelligence on what caused the crash isn’t definitive, Obama said in an interview Thursday with Seattle radio station KIRO.
“It’s going to be a long wait”, said Russian tourist Maria Chernova. Obama said it was “certainly possible”.
It is the first sign of wariness from Moscow after days of resisting British and American warnings that a bomb may have brought down a Russian plane in the Sinai Peninsula last week.
Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium are among the countries that updated their travel warnings and urged their citizens against all but essential travel to the Sinai Peninsula.
Egyptian officials have said that the suggestion that a bomb had brought down the plane was not based on facts from their investigation.
It is believed Russian Federation is defying the West and co-ordinating a pro-Assad air, sea and ground offensive against not just Islamic State but also rebels opposed to the Syrian regime. The United States and the United Kingdom aren’t part of the investigative team combing over forensic evidence from the scene.
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All the airports being asked to tighten screening of U.S.-bound flights are in the Middle East, a US official familiar with the matter said. Those messages are separate from public ISIS claims of responsibility, the official said.
