Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (Photo: AP)
Foreign countries did not heed Egypt's calls for greater coordination to fight terrorism and have not shared intelligence with Cairo about the crash of a Russian passenger plane last week, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Saturday.
An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the crash, but several countries have already suspended flights to the Sinai resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, citing the possibility that the flight which originated there was brought down by a bomb.
Speaking at a press conference in Cairo with his Hungarian counterpart, the Egyptian minister expressed irritation that information acquired by western intelligence services suggesting that the Russian plane was most likely downed by a bomb "has not yet been provided to the Egyptian security services."
"We were expecting that any technical information should have been shared with us, at a technical level, before broadcasting it in the media," he said.
"We have not dismissed any possibility but there is no hypothesis yet until investigations are complete and a comprehensive report is delivered," Shoukry added.
Concerns that the crash was caused deliberately rather than the result of technical failure has led Britain, Russia and several other foreign governments to suspend flights to and from the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.
Britain and the United States have imposed tougher air travel security measures on the back of the crash.
The Airbus A321, operated by a Russian carrier, crashed less than half an hour after take-off from Sharm El-Sheikh en route to St Petersburg in Russia last Saturday. All 224 people on board were killed.
Shoukry criticised western partners for not taking sufficient measures to combat terrorism, calling for better coordination from foreign governments "away from self interest."
Egyptian authorities are due to make an announcement later on Saturday afternoon about their investigations into the crash so far.
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