Passengers standing in a line to get registered for a flight  from Domodedovo airport near Moscow to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt yesterday. President  Putin has ordered the suspension of all Russian passenger flights to Egypt  until the cause of last Saturday’s deadly plane crash is established.

Putin’s decision is a response to the crash of an Airbus A321 operated by a Russian carrier last Saturday over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula

Reuters
Moscow


Russia yesterday suspended all passenger flights to Egypt  after a deadly plane crash last week as Western officials said intelligence “chatter” supported the theory that the jet was brought down by a bomb.
Putin’s decision was a response to the crash of an Airbus A321 operated by a Russian carrier last Saturday over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. All 224 people on board were killed.
British and US spies intercepted “chatter” from suspected militants and at least one other government suggesting that a bomb, possibly hidden in luggage in the hold, downed the airliner, Western intelligence sources said.
The intelligence sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said the evidence was not categorical and there was still no hard forensic or scientific evidence to support the bomb theory.
Britain, which said a bomb planted by an Islamic State affiliate may have caused the crash, Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands, had already suspended regular flights to Sharm El Sheikh where the downed Russian airliner originated. Turkey said yesterday it was also cancelling flights to the Egyptian resort.
Russia’s decision may be the first sign that Moscow, which launched air strikes against Islamist fighters including Islamic State in Syria more than a month ago, is attaching credibility to the theory that militants put a bomb on the aircraft.
However, the Kremlin said the decision to suspend flights did not mean it thought the crash was caused by a terrorist attack.
Russia has said it is too early to say what caused the crash and that all theories, including technical failure, should be examined by the official investigation. Egypt has also said it is too early to conclude a blast had brought down the plane.
Putin acted after Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s FSB security service, recommended that Russia suspend all passenger flights to Egypt until it knew exactly what caused the crash.
“The head of state agreed with these recommendations,” Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
He said the government would find a way to bring Russians back home and would open talks with Egyptian authorities to improve flight safety. Peskov later told reporters the suspension would remain in place until such time as the Kremlin was satisfied that security had been sufficiently improved.
“I think that since Putin made the decision to cancel flights, most likely there is a genuine suspicion that it was a terrorist act. And of course, then it is correct to cancel the flights because it means it is dangerous to fly there,” said Maria Solomatina, 27, an IT consultant who has a ticket to travel to Egypt in mid-November.
A Sinai-based group affiliated with Islamic State, the militants who have seized swathes of Iraq and Syria, has claimed responsibility for the crash, which, if confirmed, would make it the extremist organisation’s first attack on civil aviation.
Egypt is one of the most popular holiday destinations for Russians and any decision to suspend flights would cause major logistical problems for Russia’s airlines and tourists.
The Russian Travel Industry Union estimated there were around 50,000 Russian tourists currently in Egypt and said refunding cancelled tickets to Egypt could bankrupt Russian tour operators, the Interfax news agency reported.