A day after Daba’a contracts announced, officials say we’re closer to getting flights back from Russia: Egyptian officials reportedly said on Sunday that we’re inching closer to meeting all of Russia’s airport security demands, the Associated Press reports. The officials announced that they had installed a number of new security measures requested by the Russians including 16 fingerprint security gates for employees at two of Cairo airport’s main terminals, bringing us that much closer to the resumption of direct flights from Russia to Egypt. What the AP doesn’t point out is that Saturday saw the official unveiling of the terms of the USD 29 bn Daba’a nuclear power plant, which will be paid through loans from Russia and see Russians come on to help manage the facility. Based on reports and not-so-subtle prodding from the Russian state press, it is becoming increasingly clear that Daba’a may be the most important “recommendation” the Ruskies have. Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin will reportedly be in Cairo this week with a delegation from the Russian Energy Ministry, while Russian ministers of foreign affairs and defense will also visit Egypt early in March for cooperation talks. We expect that we should hear about a return of flights not long after the announcement that the Daba’a contracts have been signed.