Alwaght- Egypt will host the joint exercises of Russian and Egyptian paratroopers in 2018, head of the organization and planning of peacekeeping operations of the Russian Airborne Forces at the CSTO Collective Rapid Response Force, Col. Alexey Sgibnev, said Saturday.
“They have already invited us, the exercises will be conducted on the territory of Egypt,” Sgibnev told the Ekho Moskvy broadcaster.
In 2017, the joint tactical exercises of the Russian Airborne Forces and the paratroopers of the Egyptian Armed Forces, dubbed Defenders of Friendship-2017, were held in Russia’s Krasnodar Territory.
The first international anti-terror Defenders of Friendship drills were held in 2016 in the Egyptian region of Alexandria.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on resuming regular air services to Cairo, the relevant document was posted on the legal acts website on Thursday.
"To add the words ‘regular air services to the city of Cairo’ after the words ‘with the exception of’ to Paragraph 1 [of the decree issued by the Russian president on November 8, 2015 "On separate measures to ensure the national security of the Russian Federation and protect Russian citizens from criminal and other abusive practices"]," the document reads.
Moscow suspended air service with Egypt in November 2015 after a terrorist attack on board an A321 jet from Russia’s air carrier Kogalymavia that was en route from Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt to Russia’s St. Petersburg. The passenger airliner crashed over the Sinai Peninsula early on October 31. All 224 people onboard, including 217 passengers and the seven-member crew, were killed. To resume air services, Russia demanded tighter security measures from Egypt.
Putin met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo last December for wide-ranging talks, marking their first meeting in Cairo since 2015 where they agreed to resume the civilian flights.
