A Russian delegation will visit Egypt from Sunday to 24 April to review security measures in Egyptian airports.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of Civil Aviation Ehab Raslan told the state-owned MENA news agency the delegation is expected to hold meeting with security officials in Sharm El-Shiekh and Hurghada airports.
Another Russian delegation reviewed security measures in Cairo International Airport in January.
Russian president Vladimir Putin said Thursday in a televised phone-interview that no solution has been found to the problem of ensuring the security of Russian tourists in Egypt. He added that efforts are continuing.
The Russian president highlighted the need to overhaul the system for inspecting passengers, luggage, and food with the authorities in Egypt, in order to resume Russian flights.
“No such scheme in the work with Egyptian colleagues has been found so far, but our special services and law enforcement authorities are working with our Egyptian friends on this issue,” Putin stressed.
Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov said last month that Moscow hopes flights to Egypt will be resumed by the beginning of summer, according to the Russian state TASS news agency.
“Work is in progress. Let’s hope flights will resume by the summer,” he said. “Security specialists are cooperating closely. Now we have reached the final stage of the talks.”
Last month, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said Egypt and Russia agreed to take further measures to restore flights between both countries as soon as possible, on the condition that security measures are observed.
“We touched upon the question of resuming direct flights between our countries in order to help bolster tourism, which has declined for obvious reasons,” said Lavrov.
A Russian A321 plane crashed in Sinai in late October, killing all 224 people on board, the majority of whom were Russian nationals.
Moscow announced in November that the crash was due to an act of terrorism, but Egypt insisted that the cause was pending the investigation’s completion.
The militant group “Islamic State” claimed responsibility for the incident.
In November, Russia issued an immediate suspension of all commercial flights to and from Egypt, pending a report on the status of security procedures at Egyptian airports.
In a statement issued Thursday, Egyptian prosecutor-general Nabil Sadek said he referred the case of the Russian plane to the State Security Prosecution, due to suspicion of criminal activity, according to a Russian report.
