Russia expects squared guarantees from Egypt?

The representatives of authorities of all levels announced several times that Russian tourists can return to the resorts of Egypt only if there are guarantees of their safety and after the situation in the country stabilized. Yesterday a similar statement was done by Anatoly Safonov, special representative of the President of Russian Federation on international cooperation in fighting terrorism and transnational organized crime. «When we receive notifications from Egyptian authorities that convince us that the situation has qualitatively improved and there are necessary and  sufficient security measures on the touristic sites Russians will be able to return to the resorts of Egypt». According to him it is well understood in Russia that the tourism for Egypt is one of the main components of economy  that influences social and political processes in this country. «But for us the main criteria is the safety of our citizens», - said Mr. Safonov.

But on March 21 in Cairo after negotiations with his Egyptian colleague Nabil el-Araby the head of MFA RF Sergey Lavrov already said that Russia received from Egypt guarantees of security for Russian tourists and expected that the question of their coming back to Egyptian resorts is decided in the nearest future. But the recommendations of refraining from trips to Egypt are not cancelled till now.

So did Russia receive the guarantees or not?

Yesterday Thomas Cook confirmed restart of flights to Egypt and Tunisia from Great Britain, Germany, Holland, France and Belgium. Second largest touroperator of Europe reported that recent riots in Egypt and Tunisia cost the company around 20 mio pounds ($30 mio). Political instability in these two Arabian countries in December and January, one of the most called-for tourist seasons, resulted in cancellation of 150 thousand tours.

Russian touroperators keep silent about their losses.