Photo: Russian Emergency Situations Ministry
The Russian airliner that crashed in Sinai in October 2015 was downed by terrorists to harm Egypt’s tourism industry and ties with Russia, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Sisi said Wednesday, Sputnik News reports.
“Has terrorism ended? No it has not, but it will if we unite. Did the person behind the plane crash aim to hit just the [Egyptian] tourism industry? No, the intention was to harm relations with Russia, Italy and all other countries,” Sisi said in his opening remarks at a Cairo conference.
The statement was the first confirmation by Egyptian authorities, saying that the Russian-operated A321 had been brought down by terrorists.
On October 31, a Russian-operated airliner carrying 224 people crashed in the Sinai Peninsula en route from the seaside resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg.