Moscow rejects Egypt’s preliminary report on Russian plane crash

Moscow announced Monday that it rejected a preliminary report issued by Cairo stating that the Russian plane that crashed in Sinai last October was not downed by a bomb.

The Kremlin pointed to the findings of Russians investigators released last month, which indicate that a bomb was responsible for downing the Airbus A321 and killing all 224 people on board.

“I can only remind you that the report of our experts from the corresponding special services concluded that this was a terrorist act,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agency Sputnik.

Egyptian chief investigator Ayman El-Muqadam said in a statement that “the technical investigative committee has so far not received any evidence indicating criminal or terrorist activity” in the downing of the plane.

On 17 November, Russia asserted for the first time that a homemade bomb containing up to 1 kilogram of TNT blew apart the Airbus A321, which took off from the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh en route to Russia’s St Petersburg.

Russian security chief Alexander Bortnikov said “we can say unequivocally that this was a terrorist attack,” prompting Russian President Vladimir Putin to vow to hunt down and punish the perpetrators “in any part of the world.”

Shortly after the crash, ISIS affiliate Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis claimed responsibility for downing the flight.

Egypt has insisted that judgment should be reserved until it concludes its investigation.

Source: Ahram Online