Russia has not yet received Egypt’s response to its proposals regarding airport security, said head of Russia’s federal air transport agency Alexander Neradko on Friday, according to the state-run TASS.
“We handed our recommendations to our Egyptian counterparts—our proposals on strengthening security measures. These are not only organisational measures, but also envisage purchasing, setting up additional equipment, and putting it into operation. This is a capital-intensive process, and it is lengthy. We have not yet received a formalised response to our proposals from our Egyptian colleagues,” Neradko said.
Neradko also affirmed that the Egyptian side is taking the Russian recommendations seriously.
In October 2015, a Russian A321 aeroplane was downed in Sinai, killing all 224 passengers and crew on board. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the incident.
Moscow announced in November that the crash was due to an act of terrorism, but Egypt insisted that the cause cannot be concluded until the investigation is complete.
Russia issued an immediate suspension of all commercial flights to and from Egypt, pending a report on the state of security procedures at Egyptian airports.
Russian transport minister Maxim Sokolov previously said that Egyptian airports pledged to fulfil Russia’s recommendation on security by the end of the first half of 2016.
Earlier this week, Russian deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich said that it is too early to speak about resuming air service with Egypt.
In March, the Egyptian investigative committee handling the Russian aeroplane crash case said it submitted a report to Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek.
A committee press release quoting Ayman El-Moqadem, head of the committee, said the report was sent by Russian investigative authorities to include their collected information in the case.
He added that examination of the aircraft wreckage and collected evidence will be followed by regrouping remains of the aeroplane together so that experts can determine how the aeroplane fragmented.
