Russia’s cancelation of EgyptAir flights is ‘temporary’

Moscow’s cancellations of state-run flag carrier EgyptAir flights to Russia are ‘temporary security measures’, Russia’s ambassador to Cairo, Sergei Kirpichenko told Egyptian television channel Friday.

Russian aviation authorities have banned EgyptAir from flying into the country, officials said Friday, with Russian flights between the two countries already suspended two weeks after a Russian jet crash in Sinai that Islamist militants claimed to have caused.

Moscow’s Domodedovo airport authorities told AFP that they had received a telegram from the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) banning EgyptAir’s flights to Russian territory from November 14.

The aviation agency Rosaviatsia declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.
The move comes a week after Russia suspended passenger flights to Egypt in the wake of the Sinai crash, for which a group affiliated with Islamic State has claimed responsibility. The Metrojet Airbus A321 was bringing holidaymakers home from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

All 224 people on board were killed in what the militants described as revenge for Russian air strikes in Syria that began in late September. The United States and Britain have said it appeared that a bomb brought the airliner down.

While no official investigation has confirmed the militants’ claim of responsibility, several countries have canceled flights to Sharm el-Sheikh and announced new precautions.