Russia rules out link of air disaster with operation in Syria

The aircraft belonging to the Kogalymavia Company (registered Metrojet) crashed at dawn on Saturday in the Sinai Peninsula, some 20 minutes after takeoff from the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh, bound for St. Petersburg. “Hypothetical thoughts on the matter are irrelevant,” said Dmitry Peskov, insisting on an unnecessary connection between the plane crash and the military operation carried out by Russia in Syria at the request of President Bashar Al-Assad. He said that so far there had been no data or evidence pointing to a terrorist attack as the cause of the disaster, cataloged by President Vladimir Putin as a great tragedy for the country.

Analysts classified the incident as the biggest catastrophe in the history of Russian civil aviation. The International Aviation Committee and the relevant special commission, both from the Russian side, reported on Tuesday that so far there had been no preliminary information on the causes of the accident. On Monday, Air Transport Agency of Russia (RosAviatsya) president Alexander Neradko, called the community of aviation experts to refrain from hasty conclusions regarding the catastrophe of the Airbus A321 in Egypt.

The Emergency Situations Ministry also reiterated that the search and rescue operations would continue until all bodies of the victims and fragments of the plane are found. Peskov also said that the Kremlin set no clear deadlines in the conclusions of the investigation. It is not possible to consider specific dates from the technical point of view, observed the presidential spokesman. During the meeting held yesterday with the Minister of Transport Maksim Sokolov, Putin stressed that the work was to continue until being fully convinced and having a full and objective picture of the tragedy.

In St. Petersburg, the team of forensic experts and criminologists continued on Tuesday the process of identifying the bodies with the help of relatives. A third plane of the Russian civil defense will take off today from Cairo with more remains of victims found in the uninterrupted days of search and digging through the debris, started on Sunday with Egyptian participation.

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PL-14/MNA