A state-chartered Russian plane destined for the Yemeni capital Sanaa had been diverted to Cairo, after the Saudi-led coalition reportedly refused it landing permission, leaving scores of Russian expats awaiting evacuation to languish at the airport.
“The crew made contact with coalition forces while flying over the Red Sea,” Khaled Shayef, the director of Sanaa airport, told the Lebanon-based Mayadeen channel. “The coalition refused to allow the landing in Sanaa and the plane had to fly to Cairo.” Shayef said that Russian citizens – mostly oil industry employees and their families – had gathered in the airport in anticipation of the flight.
Mayadeen, which broadcasts all over the Arab world, claimed that the refusal was in contravention of earlier promises made by the coalition to Moscow, though Russian diplomats in Cairo stopped short of blaming Saudi Arabia.
INC News, 02/04/2015 - via RT
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