CAIRO. May 29 (Interfax) - Russia and Egypt should complete the earlier planned practical steps to resume direct flights between the two countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"In this context, it is vitally important to complete the investigation [into the explosion of the plane over Sinai], and also take practical steps that were agreed upon by our parties back in December 2015, whose full implementation will make it possible to begin practical resumption of flights," Lavrov told a press conference following the negotiations in Egypt in the 'two plus two' format.
Flights between Russia and Egypt were stopped after the plane crash over the Sinai Peninsula in October 2015, in which 224 people were killed.
"We and our Egyptian friends should do everything necessary to prevent such things from occurring again," Lavrov said.
"Russia did not set any new conditions [for the resumption of flights," Lavrov said.
The negotiations between the defense ministers of the two countries addressed "interaction in the military and military-technical spheres," Lavrov said.
"Those issues were addressed specifically in the meeting between Defense Ministers Sergei Shoigu and Mr Sobhy," Lavrov said.