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Xi offers condolences to Putin over Russian plane crash
November 1, 2015, 7:50 pm

A flag flies at half mast at the State Duma in Moscow, Nov. 1, 2015, to mourn the victims aboard the Russian plane that crashed Saturday in Egypt's Sinai [Xinhua]

A flag flies at half mast at the State Duma in Moscow, Nov. 1, 2015, to mourn the victims aboard the Russian plane that crashed Saturday in Egypt’s Sinai [Xinhua]

After a Russian airliner carrying 224 passengers crashed into a mountainous area of Egypt’s Sinai peninsula on Saturday, Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message of condolence on Sunday to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. All 224 people onboard were killed.

In his message on Sunday, Xi “extended profound condolences to the victims of the crash and expressed sincere sympathies to the families of the victims” state news agency Xinhua said.

“At the current sorrowful moment for the Russian people, the Chinese people firmly stand side by side with them,” Xi said.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who is in Seoul, South Korea to attend the sixth China-Japan-South Korea leaders’ summit, also sent a message of condolences on Sunday to his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

The Airbus A321, operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia under the brand name Metrojet, was flying from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg in Russia when it went down in central Sinai on Saturday morning.

A majority of the 217 passengers and seven crew member onboard the ill-fated flight were Russians.

The Islamic State, in a statement on Twitter, said it had brought down the aircraft.

However, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov told Interfax news agency the claim “can’t be considered accurate”.

Until the probe into the crash is over, Russian authorities have asked the Kogalymavia airline to ground jets of the same model.

TBP and Agencies