MOSCOW, June 14. /TASS/. Egypt has taken significant action to eliminate the issues related to air safety, Russian Ambassador to Cairo Georgy Borisenko said in an interview with TASS.
"The Egyptian authorities have taken significant action to eliminate problems that existed in the period starting 2015 when an act of terror against Russian aircraft bound from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg took place. Since then, major efforts have been taken through Russia’s Federal Security Service and Rosaviatsiya [Federal Agency for Air Transport - TASS], which developed a new system of security control on flights from Egypt to Russia within several years in close coordination with Egyptian law enforcement bodies and special services," the diplomat said. The Egyptian authorities "very attentively consider recommendations and requirements by Russian special services on ensuring air safety" and take the issue very seriously, he added.
"Sometimes certain measures seem probably abundant to Russian citizens that fly from Egypt to Russia, but in fact all this is being done for the safety for Russian passengers themselves to prevent the tragic case that occurred in 2015 from happening again," Borisenko noted.
Egypt is traditionally one of prior vacation directions for Russians. Before 2015 over 2 mln Russian citizens visited the country each year. After the terrorist attack on board of an A321 passenger jet owned by Russia’s Kogalymavia air carrier bound from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg in 2015 that killed 224 people all flights between Russia and Egypt were cancelled. They were fully resumed only in the summer of 2021.