UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, London handed Moscow a dossier of intelligence data on the October 31 crash of an Airbus A321 operated by the Russian airline Kogalymavia in the Sinai Peninsula.
All 224 people on board the plane, which had departed from the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh bound for St. Petersburg, died in what has become the biggest tragedy in Russian and Soviet civil aviation history.
"Some of it is open source information, some of it — sensitive intelligence information. That information which we are able to share, we shared with our partners, but some intelligence sources cannot be shared, for obvious reasons," Hammond told reporters.
The top UK diplomat said that the crash was most likely caused by an Islamist attack.
Last week, UK media reported that UK and US intelligence agencies had conducted a joint operation, as a result of which they managed to intercept certain data, including digital communications between Islamic State jihadist group militants. The data led the spies to conclude that the plane had been downed by a bomb, possibly brought on board by a passenger or a ground service employee.
The Egypt-led international investigation into the A321 crash, which does nor include Britain or the United States, said that the inquiry needs more international assistance to determine the cause of the crash as soon as possible.
