Deputies in Russian state of Duma head to Egypt

CAIRO – 12 December 2017: Deputy Chairman of Russian State Duma Committee of Defense affairs Yuri Shvetkin said that members of the committee headed to Cairo on Tuesday to discuss military cooperation and resumption of flights.

The visit, led by Chairman of State Duma Committee for Defense Vladimir Shamanov, aims to discuss the technical military cooperation issues, ways to combat terrorism and the possibility of resuming air flights between Russia and Egypt.

“It is supposed that we would meet members of Egyptian Parliament and the Ministry of Defense to discuss the technical military cooperation and the ways to combat terrorism,” noted Shvetkin.

In this regard, Russian Minister of Transport Maksim Sokolov said on Monday that Russia is ready to sign a protocol with Egypt to resume direct passenger flights from Russia to Egypt this week, according to Reuters.

Sokolov added that EgyptAir and Russian Aeroflot flights may resume in February.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that he discussed with President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi speeding up joint steps to resume direct passenger flights that were halted between both states since 2015 after the crash of a plane carrying Russian passengers in Sinai.

In a joint press conference held in Cairo, Putin added that Russia is ready to resume direct passenger flights to Egypt. He further praised Egypt’s “major steps” taken to upgrade security measures at airports.

Russia, the top source of tourists visiting Egypt, suspended flights to the country following a plane crash in 2015 after taking off from Sharm El-Sheikh Airport. The crash led to the death of all 224 people on board. The Islamic State (IS) group has claimed responsibility for the crash. Furthermore, a number of European countries suspended flights to Sharm El-Sheikh following the crash, but have recently reinstated direct flights to the South Sinai tourist hotspot.