Moscow expects charter flights from Russia to Egyptian resort cities - Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada - to resume as soon as possible, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram.
"I would like to confirm our interest in restoring regular flights between Russia and Egyptian resort cities," he said. - "I expect that charter flights from Russia to Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada will be resumed in the near future".
The head of the diplomatic mission highly evaluated the joint work of Russian and Egyptian specialists in this sphere and also emphasized the good prospects of bilateral cooperation in other areas. "Russian-Egyptian relations are progressively developing in many directions. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, an intensive political dialogue is maintained," Lavrov stressed. - "For example, bilateral consultations at the level of deputy ministers on European issues as well as on cooperation between our countries at the UN and on human rights issues were held in Cairo in March this year".
Air flights between Russia and Egypt were interrupted in November 2015 after the crash of a Russian Kogalymavia plane flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg in Sinai. There were 217 passengers and seven crew members on board, all of whom died. The FSB qualified the incident as a terrorist attack.
In January 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree resuming regular flights to Cairo. The first flight from Moscow took place four months later in April. Charter flights to Egyptian resort areas are still closed. In recent years, Egypt has improved the system of screening, control and inspection of passengers and baggage, as well as significantly modernized the infrastructure of airports.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS