18:09

Earlier reports had suggested that the Russian authorities no longer believed the cause of the crash to be mechanical.

But, as Alec Luhn reports from Moscow, they are also keen to point out that the decision to suspend flights to Egypt “does not mean that a terrorist attack is the main suspected cause of the catastrophe”.

He quotes presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying: “Of course, no single explanation can dominate because, as before, there are no clear indications in favour of this explanation.”