PRESS RELEASE
Russians Slam U.K. Government for Not Sharing Terrorist Information and for Provocations
Nov. 6, 2015 (EIRNS)—“It is genuinely shocking to think that the British Government has some kind of information that could cast light on what happened in the skies above Egypt,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said yesterday.
“If such information exists, and judging by what the [U.K.] Foreign Secretary has said it does, no one has passed it to the Russian side.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov similarly told reporters,
“If there is any serious data, we certainly hope that whoever possesses this data will provide it to the investigation.”
Peskov said,
“We have said it before and we say it again: any versions regarding the incident and its causes may only be voiced by the investigation. We have not heard any statements from the investigators so far. Any other statements are either unverified information or some kind of speculations.”
Moscow and Cairo stand united on that point. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, yesterday, after which Shoukry
“re-emphasized that the Egyptian authorities continued rendering necessary support to the Russian rescuers and experts in full measure.”
A source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told Tass, “We are against hasty assessments that this was a terrorist attack.” The source said, “We have no such information.”
Taking a cautious approach, the Russian government this afternoon announced a suspension of all commercial flights from Russia to Egypt. Putin made the decision based on recommendations from top security officials today and then spoke to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi by phone.
“In light of the common understanding for the need to ensure the highest security standards for Russian citizens in Egypt, as well as Russia’s suspension of flight connections with Egypt, the heads of state agreed to instruct the two nations’ corresponding agencies to maintain active cooperation, including by coordinating actions between Russian and Egyptian security agencies and aviation authorities,”
the Kremlin said in a statement. It expressed the hope that normal air service between the two countries will be restored “very soon.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Channel One Russia tonight that,
"Halting the flights does not yet mean that the version that it was an act of terrorism is being viewed as the main one .... Experts continue to exclude nothing, including the possibility of a bomb explosion on board the plane."
