Russia still considers Egypt to be “unsafe” for Russian tourists, an unnamed source told Sputnik. It appears that Russia moved from pointing to airport security as the hurdle to restore flights to Egypt and is now, instead, pointing to its dissatisfaction with Egypt’s “unwillingness to duly investigate” the 2015 plane crash in Sinai. “They are determined to investigate the crash forever and punish no one. We are not satisfied with this position … The Egyptians do not want to link the investigation of the crash with the resumption of tourist flights from Russia… At present the sides do not have an understanding what happened to the plane, how the explosive device got on board, who brought it there. There are also no identified suspects and their accomplices from the airport staff,” the source explains.

… Still, cooperation with Russia in other areas continues to move ahead. The launch of Egypt’s satellite Egyptsat-A is scheduled for 2019, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Russia’s RSC Energia corporation Alexander Derechin said, TASS reports. Egyptsat-A is designed to replace the EgyptSat-2 satellite, with which communication was lost in April 2015. TASS says Egyptsat-A “will have an improved optical-electronic system and onboard control package, a high speed onboard radio link and enhanced solar batteries.”