Putin suspends Russian flights to Egypt after Sinai plane crash

Russian president orders halt to flights after security chief warns move would be ‘expedient’ until results of investigation are known
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has suspended flights to Egypt, a Kremlin spokesman has said.

The move came after the head of the Russian federal security service suggested it would be “expedient” to suspend flights until the conclusion of the investigation into what brought down a Russian-operated airliner over the Sinai peninsula on Saturday, killing all 224 people on board.

Russia had previously suggested the UK was pre-judging the outcome of the investigation when it and Ireland suspended flights on Wednesday to and from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The UK prime minister, David Cameron, has said it was “more likely than not” a bomb brought down the Metrojet Airbus A321-200.

“I think it will be reasonable to suspend all Russian flights to Egypt until we determine the real reasons of what happened,” Russian intelligence chief Alexander Bortnikov said in televised comments shortly before the Kremlin announced the suspension. “It concerns tourist flights most of all.”

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremin spokesman, said Putin was not suspending flights until the end of the crash investigation, but only until flight safety could be guaranteed, state news agency Tass reported.

“We need to make a clarification here: The president meant a suspension of air travel with Egypt until it is possible to establish the necessary safety level for air travel,” Peskov said.

Putin also ordered the Russian government to establish mechanisms to bring its citizens home, Peskov said. Around 45,000 Russians are currently on holiday in Egypt, Oleg Safonov, the head of Russia’s state tourism agency, Rostourism, told Tass.

The Russian suspension, covering all of Egypt, is even more sweeping than that imposed by Britain, which had halted flights to Sharm el-Sheikh only.

The UK government’s attempts to return stranded British holidaymakers from Sharm el-Sheikh have descended into chaos, as easyJet, one of the main airlines with routes to the airport contradicted senior UK and Egyptian officials over claims that Cairo was blocking unscheduled “rescue flights”.

Two easyJet flights left Sharm on Friday morning, but other passengers at the airport were sent back to their hotels, with the airline saying Egyptian authorities had prevented a further eight planes from arriving.

About 3,500 Britons have suffered delayed flights. In extraordinary scenes, Britain’s ambassador to Cairo, John Casson, was heckled by irate passengers who shouted: “What is the problem and when can we go home?”

Carla Dublin, travelling with her two teenage daughters, confronted the British ambassador, telling him: “We were told we were leaving today. Now we are being told that the Egyptian government is arguing with David Cameron about allowing in flights.”

Egypt’s civil aviation ministry denied it was blocking any flights but said only eight out of the 29 planned flights from Sharm to the UK on Friday were operating because the airport has capacity to store hold luggage. Only hand luggage is being allowed on flights back to Britain amid fears a bomb was placed in the hold of the Metrojet Airbus.

On Thursday night, the day after the British decision to suspend flights, Barack Obama said the US was taking “very seriously” the possibility that a bomb caused the plane to crash.

The Islamic State group, which has not generally pursued “spectacular” attacks outside its base in Syria, has claimed responsibility for bringing down the plane, but Russian and Egyptian officials have said the claim is not credible.

Russia is conducting an air war in Syria against Isis militants, who have promised retaliation.

The suspension of flights to and from Egypt may be the first sign that Moscow is attaching credibility to the theory terrorists somehow planted a bomb on the aircraft.

Egypt which stands to lose millions of dollars from its vital tourism industry maintains there is nothing wrong with security at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport, which each year welcomes thousands of vacationers to the resort.

In 2014, about 1.9 million Russians visited in Egypt, making it the second most popular holiday destination for Russians after Turkey.

Although the number of Russians holidaying abroad has been falling since the rouble lost half its value in 2014, Egypt has remained popular as operators have lowered prices for package tours there. In 2013, 2.4 million Russians visited Egypt.

Vladimir Kaganer, the general director of tourist agency Tez Tour, which said it had 10,000 clients in Egypt, claimed an evacuation order would be needed to bring Russian holidaymakers home. “If people are at a resort and they come to them to say a plane was sent to take you back, they would say: no, we want to be on holiday for two more weeks, we’re not going anywhere.”