Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug

A knife attacker stabbed eight people on the street in Russia's far northern city of Surgut before being shot by police, investigators said on Aug. 19.

Moscow acknowledged Nov. 9 for the first time a terrorist attack could have caused the Oct. 31 Russian plane crash in Egypt, as thousands more tourists were evacuated from the country.

Only an external impact could have caused a Russian plane to dive into the Egyptian desert, killing all 224 people on board, the airline said on Nov. 2, adding to a series of incomplete and confusing statements from investigators that left unclear why the plane broke up in mid-flight.

A passenger jet traveling from the Egyptian resort Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg disappeared from radar screens in Cypriot airspace. The Russian Kogalymavia airlines Airbus A-321, according to sources, had 217 passengers (17 children) and seven crew members on board. All of the passengers were Russian civilians.