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Too early to talk about resuming air travel with Egypt: Kremlin

Xinhua, March 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

Moscow considers it premature to talk about resuming flights to Egypt until all the circumstances of the hijacking of the Egyptian plane become clear, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.

"The incoming information is yet very contradictory, so it would be wrong to make any conclusions about the possibility of resuming air travel until all the circumstances of the incident are clarified," said the spokesman, stressing the priority to ensure the safety of Russian citizens.

Also in the day, the Russian Tourism Industry Union said the hijacking of the plane might delay reopening Egypt to Russian tourists.

"The tourist industry can only assume that if there were plans to reopen Egypt in the near future, now this decision will be postponed," Irina Tyurina, spokeswoman of the association, was quoted as saying by TASS news agency.

An EgyptAir plane heading from Egypt's second-largest city Alexandria to its capital city Cairo with 56 passengers and eight crew members on board was hijacked and diverted to Cyprus, where most hostages had been released before the hijacker was arrested.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a tourist evacuation and a suspension of all the country's flights to Egypt since a Russian A321 Airbus on Oct. 31, 2015 crashed shortly after takeoff from the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people onboard, mostly Russians.

The Russian Federal Security Service announced later that the plane was brought down by a bomb.

The authorities of Egypt, which used to be one of Russians' main tourist destinations, have since been actively boosting security measures at the country's airports and resorts, and Russian officials have repeatedly expressed the hope to restore flights to Egypt before the summer holiday season starts. Endi