Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to suspend Russian air traffic with Egypt until the cause of the crash of Metrojet Flight 9268 can be determined, the Kremlin said Friday.
"Putin has accepted the recommendations of the National Anti-Terrorist Committee to suspend flights with Egypt. ... The President has also instructed to provide assistance to Russian citizens to return from Egypt. In addition, the President has instructed to engage with the Egyptian side to ensure the safety of air traffic," the Kremlin said in a statement.
24 photos: Russian plane crashes in Egypt
Russia had previously resisted the theory that a bomb brought down the airliner, possibly because any terrorist bombing of a Russian plane could be seen as retaliation for Putin's decision to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and launch airstrikes against the terrorist group ISIS and other Assad opponents.
The airliner, carrying mostly Russian families returning from Red Sea vacations, was 23 minutes into its flight Saturday from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, Russia, when it disappeared from radar over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. A U.S. satellite detected a heat flash over Sinai. The plane broke apart and fell to 30,000 feet earth. All aboard died.
Russia's about-face buttressed a theory about the cause of the crash. As investigators pick through the rubble of the Russian airliner, and as Western officials sift through their own intelligence reports, some suspect that Flight 9268 was brought down by a bomb planted in its hold.
And that the bomb may have been smuggled on board in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where the flight departed.
Report: British Intelligence suspects bomb in hold
The bombing theory emerged late Wednesday, when Britain suspended flights from Sharm el-Sheikh to the UK because of fears of what those planes might be carrying.
It became more pronounced when it was articulated by British Prime Minister David Cameron and U.S. President Barack Obama, though neither expressed it as a certainly. Cameron said it was "more likely than not" that the cause of the crash was an on-board bomb. Obama said it was "certainly possible."
And on Friday, the BBC quoted UK intelligence officials as saying the plane may have been brought down by a bomb smuggled on board by someone working at the airport in Sharm el-Sheikh. The BBC said the intelligence came from "intercepted communication between militants in the Sinai Peninsula."
Egyptian officials publicly continue to push back against the likelihood of a bombing -- perhaps concerned about the country's crucial tourism sector -- but a high-level Egyptian official who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter said Friday that the possibility of a bomb is "a theory we are not discarding."
"It is one theory among many others," the official told CNN's Hala Gorani.
But the official also expressed frustration that U.S. and U.K. intelligence officials would not share information, especially when those details seem to point to an inside job at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport.
The frustration echoed that of Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who on Thursday told CNN he would "only be able to assess that conclusion if information was to be shared."
"I believe that this information has a direct bearing on both the investigation and our status, this incident having happened on our territory. And I would have expected that if there is information, that it would have been shared with those immediately concerned," he said.
Hossam Kamel, Egypt's civil aviation minister, has said investigators had found no evidence to support the bomb theory.
Meanwhile, British tourists stranded in the resort when flights were suspended began leaving on eight flights that were scheduled to depart Friday, said.
Easyjet said one of its flights had landed Friday afternoon at London Gatwick Airport carrying 180 passengers. It was the first flight to return home since flight restrictions were put in place Wednesday.
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