Russian media brood over cause of air crash

Russian business daily Kommersant top story headlines on Russia's day of mourning

Only a handful of newspapers in Russia are published at the weekend and along with the press websites running updates on the story, they have tried to make sense of what exactly happened to Flight KGL9268.

State-controlled Channel One TV said it was the worst disaster in the history of Russian aviation. Russia and Egypt "fully understand each other on issues relating to the investigation of the crash", it quoted Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov saying.

The world mourns

NTV said the black boxes will be deciphered by Russian specialists and the pro-Kremlin rolling news station LifeNews TV said: "The whole world mourns the victims of the air disaster."

"We cannot rule out that terrorists could have had a hand in the air disaster. It is well known that since Russia started a military operation in Syria, a number of jihadist groups have declared a 'holy war' against Russia and its citizens," mass-circulation newspaper Moskovskiy Komsomolets said on its website.

People lay flowers and toys at an entrance of Pulkovo airport during a day of national mourning

On Ekho Moskvy radio, a former member of the elite anti-terrorism Alpha force, Sergey Goncharov, dismissed reports that the group calling itself Islamic State (IS) might be responsible for the crash. "This is another publicity campaign by IS," he said.

Safety issues?

The pro-government paper, Izvestia, reports that the airline owes the Russian state Pension Fund money for insurance fees, but it notes that the company's alleged cash flow problems stem from tour companies not paying their bills.

Russian airline Kogalymavia says all its planes were serviced in a timely manner and tested before takeoff.

An aviation engineer, Viktor Alksnis tells the pro-government tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda this is not the first time that "we are stepping on the same rake". He says dozens of small airlines that emerged in "the wild 1990s cannot ensure safety of air travel".

Novaya Gazeta newspaper warns against the tendency by watchdogs to criticise disasters only after they happened. They should focus on trying to prevent them, the article argues. "We have too little information so far to develop versions on the causes of the air crash... The agencies always find airlines' violations after the trouble has happened".

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