Russia has handed to Egypt a draft memorandum that will allow Russian specialists to particite in the monitoring of Egyptian airports aviation security procedures, Deputy Transport Minister Valery Okulov said. According to Russia's TASS news agency, representatives of Russian aviation authorities held a meeting with their Egyptian colleagues on Dec 23 and sent them results of inspections at Egyptian airports. "(They) prepared a draft memorandum. The memorandum is the document that will allow the participation of Russian specialists as monitoring representatives in procedures of aviation security performed at Egyptian airports," Okulov told journalists. The next meeting between Russian and Egyptian specialists will take place in January after New Year holidays when Egypt prepared its recommendations, he added. On the possible resumption of air travel to Egypt, the deputy transport minister said: "It is hard to name any concrete dates. The main thing is that we outlined our further actions." The issue of strengthening security measures at Egyptian airports emerged after a Russian passenger jet crashed over Egypt's northern Sinai on Oct 31. Russia suspended air service with Egypt after the air crash. The A321 passenger jet of Russia's Kogalymavia air carrier (flight 9268) bound for St. Petersburg crashed on Oct 31 some 30 minutes after the takeoff from Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh. It fell down 100 kilometers south of the administrative centre of North Sinai Governorate, the city of Al-Arish. The plane was carrying 217 passengers and seven crew members. There were four Ukrainian and one Belarusian nationals among the passengers. None survived. TASS said that in mid-November, it was announced that the crash had been caused by an act of terror committed by means of a ho
