Russia, Egypt Agree to Intensify Cooperation in A321 Crash Investigation

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Head of Russia's Investigative Committee Alexander Bastyrkin and Egypt's Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek have agreed to exchange data and to intensify direct contacts between investigators in a probe over the crash of a Russian passenger plane on the Sinai Peninsula, a spokesman for the Investigative Committee said Thursday.

Sadek is currently on a visit to Moscow to discuss bilateral cooperation with Russian officials.

"The sides have agreed on the need to develop bilateral cooperation in this [crash investigation] case, including through expedient exchange of information and intensification of direct contacts between Russian and Egyptian investigators and experts," Vladimir Markin said.

Russia suspended all flights to and from Egypt last fall after a Russian A321 plane crashed in the Sinai desert on October 31 while flying from the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg following a terrorist attack claimed by the Daesh jihadist group, outlawed in Russia.

All 224 people on board died in what has become the largest civil aviation disaster in Russian history.