Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussing tourism cooperation issues and the situation in the Middle East. Bogdanov, currently on a visit in Cairo, said after the meeting that resuming cooperation in the tourism sphere is in the interests of both Russia and Egypt. According to the Russian deputy foreign minister, Russian and Egyptian specialists are discussing practical ways of resuming air traffic between the two countries. Russia suspended all passenger flights to and from Egypt last fall after a Russia-operated Airbus A321 plane crashed en route from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg on October 31, 2015. All 224 people on board died in what has become the largest civil aviation disaster in Russian history. The Islamic State jihadist group, which is outlawed in Russia and a range of other countries, claimed responsibility for planting a bomb on board the aircraft. In late March, Bogdanov said that Russia and Egypt were in the final phase of work ahead of resuming air traffic between the two counties. Earlier in March, Shoukry stated that the Russian authorities were satisfied with additional security measures introduced at Egyptian airports in the wake of the Russian passenger plane crash. Russia and Egypt have been conduction a joint investigation into the plane crash and have been cooperating on enhancing the security of Egyptian airports.
