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Kremlin: early to say how Egypt jet crash to affect Russia-Egypt flights resumption

It is so far impossible to comment on how the crash of EgyptAir’s jet will affect the prospects of resuming air flights between Russia and Egypt, as the cause of the tragedy remains unknown

SOCHI, May 19. /TASS/. It is early to say how the crash of EgyptAir’s A320 passenger jet over the Mediterranean on Thursday will affect the prospects of resuming air flights between Russia and Egypt, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry confirmed in a statement on Thursday that the A320 passenger jet of EgypAir airline en route from Paris to Cairo has crashed.

"It is so far impossible to speak about this. We don’t know what the cause of the tragedy was," Peskov told journalists.

It is wrong for the time being to make any statements before the causes of the airliner crash are established, the Kremlin spokesman said.

"Actually speaking, only the plane’s crash site has been found and now it would be absolutely wrong to speak about anything," Peskov said.

On October 31, Russian airline Kogalymavia’s A321 plane, en-route from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, crashed in the early morning just 23 minutes after its takeoff. The disaster site was 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of the administrative center of North Sinai Governorate, the city of Al-Arish.

Flight 9268 carried 217 passengers and seven crewmembers and they were all officially announced dead following the tragic accident. Most passengers were Russian nationals. Among the passengers onboard were also four Ukrainian citizens and one Belarusian national.

Russia’s Federal Security Service Chief Alexander Bortnikov reported to President Vladimir Putin on November 17 that the airliner crash had been caused by a bomb with up to 1 kg in TNT equivalent planted on the plane.

After the crash, President Putin agreed with the recommendations of the National Anti-Terror Committee to suspend air communication with Egypt until the proper flight security level was established in that country.