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Putin signs decree on resuming regular air traffic to Cairo

MOSCOW, January 4. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on resuming regular air services to Cairo, the relevant document was posted on the legal acts website on Thursday.

"To add the words ‘regular air services to the city of Cairo’ after the words ‘with the exception of’ to Paragraph 1 [of the decree issued by the Russian president on November 8, 2015 "On separate measures to ensure the national security of the Russian Federation and protect Russian citizens from criminal and other abusive practices"]," the document reads.

Moscow suspended air service with Egypt in November 2015 after a terrorist attack on board an A321 jet from Russia’s air carrier Kogalymavia that was en route from Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt to Russia’s St. Petersburg. The passenger airliner crashed over the Sinai Peninsula early on October 31. All 224 people onboard, including 217 passengers and the seven-member crew, were killed. To resume air services, Russia demanded tighter security measures from Egypt.

Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov earlier said that regular flights to Cairo could be resumed as early as February 2018. However, charter flights to Egypt’s resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada are not planned yet.