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Russia is against wide use of Open Skies Policy in its territory

The Open Skies Policy may be introduced at Vladivostok’s airport by the APEC summit, which is due in 2012

MOSCOW, November 24 (Itar-Tass) —— Russia’s Ministry of Transport is against a wide use of the Open Skies Policy in the territory of the Russian Federation, Minister Igor Levitin told a news conference at the Transport of Russia forum on Thursday.

“We are not a country, where the Open Skies Policy should be introduced,” he said. “We protect Russian aviation companies, which will not be able to win a competition with foreign companies.”

He explained implementation of the Open Skies Policy at the airport of Vladivostok saying that the airport had been competing not with Russian, but with foreign airports. Levitin stressed that Vladivostok’s citizens quite often fly to Europe via airports of neighboring countries.

The Open Skies Policy may be introduced at Vladivostok’s airport by the APEC summit, which is due in 2012, he said.

The Open Skies Policy means that any foreign aviation carrier may make flights to an airport practically without limitations and regardless of agreements on aviation communication between its country and Russia. Presently, all regular flights of foreign aviation companies to Russia and back comply with the intergovernmental agreements, which fix the number of aviation carriers and their destinations.

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