Russian Ambassador to Cairo Georgy Borisenko published an open letter to the editorial office of the Egyptian newspaper "Al Shorouq" in response to a critical article by its editor-in-chief, Imad al-Din Hussein, entitled "New Pause with a Russian Friend". The message was published on the official Facebook page of the Russian embassy.
According to the ambassador, in a publication with "a pronounced critical fervor against Russia," the main complaints against Moscow are due to the delay in resuming charter flights between the countries. However, as the diplomat pointed out, ensuring adequate security measures at airports in Egyptian resorts and the still unresolved issue with compensations to the relatives of victims of the terrorist attack are the main objective circumstances that Moscow can not ignore.
The diplomat reminded that the decision to suspend flights was taken after the terrorist attack on October 31, 2015, at the aircraft of the "Kogalymavia" Russian airline flying from Sharm El Sheikh to St. Petersburg. As a result of triggering of the explosive device 224 people were killed - 217 passengers, including 25 children and 7 crew members. "What happened in the sky over the Sinai Peninsula was the most massive death of Russian citizens in the history of world aviation and the largest plane crash on Egyptian territory, and naturally, after this tragic incident, Russia could not continue to fly to Egypt without receiving guarantees of strict security measures at local airports," he said.
Borisenko recalled that thanks to the joint work of the two countries' authorized agencies, Egypt managed to significantly improve the security and inspection system at Cairo airport, which allowed to resume flights between the capitals in April 2018.
"We certainly appreciate the massive work done by the Egyptian side to improve security systems in their terminals, and this allows the Russian Federation to seriously consider the resumption of flights to Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh," he said. - "At the same time, we cannot ignore the risks that our compatriots continue to face in the general situation in the Middle East. For us it's not about financial income, it's about people's lives.
In addition, the issue of compensation to the relatives of the victims of the terrorist attack is still unresolved. "The families of the victims appeal to the President and the Russian government, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanding to stop any flights to Egypt," he said. - We're talking about the citizens of our country, so the Russian authorities can't ignore their position and don't listen to it. "Such factors, of course, force Russia to further analyze the situation," the diplomat stressed. - "Nevertheless, we hope that in the foreseeable future it will be possible to achieve the launch of charter flights to Egypt, which is expected by millions of Russian tourists in love with your beautiful country".
Newspaper article
On November 14, in his column, Editor-in-Chief Imad al-Din Hussein asked whether it was worth to pause the relationship with Russia to reassess it in order to "make sure that it is developing well, as it should be between friends".
The article, in particular, expresses some surprise that the Russian Federation continues to push Cairo to acknowledge the terrorist attack and bring the perpetrators to justice. According to him, "no one is challenging Russia's right to defend its interests, but it is important that this is also done with Egyptian interests in mind."
As Hussein argued, "Russia demands too much in many areas". In his opinion, Moscow's method of returning tourism to the resorts "sends a very negative signal to the Egyptians, and it can be a victim when Egypt can diversify its sources of income from tourism".
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Sergey Fadeichev / TASS
Based on materials from TASS