Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a halt to flights to Egypt on Friday and assistance in bringing Russian tourists there home as investigators probe the reasons for a Russian passenger jet crashing in the Sinai Peninsula. 

Putin ‘ordered the government to work out mechanisms’ to halt flights and to repatriate Russian citizens following a recommendation from the head of the FSB security agency, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies.

The decision to suspend flights to Egypt comes after Britain and the US said that a bomb may have downed the Airbus jet over Egypt’s Sinai peninsula on Saturday.

Russia had previously played down claims that a bomb could have bought down the plane.

The director of Russia’s FSB security service on Friday recommended halting flights to Egypt at the start of an emergency meeting of Russia’s anti-terrorist committee.

‘Until we have determined the true reasons for what happened, I consider it expedient to stop flights by Russian aviation to Egypt,’ FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov said in televised comments. 

Bortnikov however warned that it remained crucial to wait for the results of the probe into the crash before drawing any definitive conclusions about what caused the disaster.

‘We need to receive absolutely objective and confirmed information about the crash of the plane,’ he said.