Vladimir Putin says Russia to lift Egypt flight ban once travel secure

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia would remove all restrictions on flights to Egypt once reliable anti-terrorist measures were implemented.

"As soon as we work out the mechanisms that would reliably ensure the safety of our people, we will remove all restrictions. This work is in principle being done together with our Egyptian partners," Putin told his annual news conference.

He added that the ban on direct flights to Egypt, imposed after Russia concluded that a bomb had blown one of its passenger planes out of the sky above Sinai on October 31, did not mean Moscow lacked trust in the Egyptian government.