President Putin of Russia halts all Egypt bound flights indefinitely.

President Vladimir Putin ordered the suspension of all Russian passenger flights to Egypt on Friday until the cause of a deadly plane crash at the weekend was established. Putin's decision was a response to the unexplained crash of an Airbus A321 operated by a Russian carrier on Saturday over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. All 224 people on board were killed. 

The move, which follows decisions by Britain and Ireland to suspend flights to and from Sharm al-Sheikh, the Egyptian resort where the downed Russian airliner originated, is the first sign that Moscow is attaching credibility to the theory that Islamist militants somehow planted a bomb on the aircraft. Putin acted after Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia's FSB security service, recommended that Russia suspend all passenger flights to Egypt until it knew exactly what caused the crash.

"The head of state agreed with these recommendations," Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "V. Putin has tasked the government with working out a mechanism to realize the recommendations of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee and to ensure the return of Russian citizens to the motherland." Putin had also ordered the government to open talks with Egyptian authorities to guarantee the safety of flights, said Peskov. A Sinai-based group affiliated with Islamic State, the militants who have seized swathes of Iraq and Syria, has claimed responsibility for the crash, which, if confirmed, would make it the jihadist organisation's first attack on civil aviation.