It comes after reports from France say the sound of an explosion can be heard on a flight recorder recovered from the Russian airliner that crashed in Egypt a week ago killing all 224 passengers on board.
US intelligence agencies are said to have intercepted communications between leaders of the so-called Islamic State in Syria and its supporters in Sinai before and after the crash.
Nearly 80,000 Russians are currently vacationing in Egypt but there will be no emergency evacuation, with tourists set to return home when they want, an official told AFP.
"Nearly 80,000 tourists are in Egypt," Irina Tyurina, a spokeswoman for the Russian Union of the Tourism Industry, told AFP after a government meeting.
"There will be no evacuation," she said, adding that most were staying in Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada.
Russia halted flights to Egypt yesterday amid growing fears that a Russian jet downed in Egypt last week was bombed.
Empty planes are now being sent to Egypt to bring Russian holidaymakers home, but they will be able to return at their own pace.
"Tourists will be returning from Egypt to Russia when they planned to," said Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who is in a charge of a task force established to oversee the return of tourists.
"Most people left for two weeks - our usual holiday tour lasts two weeks - therefore they will return in about two weeks," he said in televised comments last night.
Russia followed in Britain's footsteps, saying that holidaymakers will be returning home without their hold luggage, which will be brought back to the country separately.
The emergencies ministry will be sending two planes later today, one to Hurghada and another one to Sharm el-Sheikh, to pick up tourists' luggage, a spokeswoman, Tatyana Zholobova, told AFP.
While no official investigation has confirmed that claim of responsibility, countries had been cancelling flights and announcing new precautions.
The US Department of Homeland Security announced new security measures yesterday, including tighter screening of items before they are brought on board aircraft, for flights to the United States from some foreign airports in the region.
Meanwhile, Egypt's foreign minister has said that his country was not dismissing possible scenarios that led to the Russian passenger plane crash, but there was no "hypothesis" yet from a probe investigating the disaster.
Sameh Shoukry told a press conference that foreign intelligence suggesting it was caused by a bomb that spurred several governments to impose restrictions on flights to Egypt "has not until now been provided to the Egyptian security services."
He also said foreign countries did not heed Egypt's calls for greater co-ordination to fight terrorism.
A group affiliated with Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the crash. Militants described it as revenge for Russian air strikes in Syria that began more than a month ago.
rte.ie
7/11/15
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