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Last year proves bad in terms of flight safety in Russia -- minister

He blamed this on lax discipline, not lack of funding

MOSCOW, March 12 (Itar-Tass) —— Last year was marked by several big plane crashes and proved bad in terms of flight safety in civil aviation, Transport Minister Igor Levitin said.

He blamed this on lax discipline, not lack of funding.

“It’s not a matter of funding. Plane crashes in 2011 showed that money is not the main point. The main factor in ensuring safety is discipline among the carriers and control over them,” Levitin said on Monday, March 12.

Having stressed that “2011 was a failure for civil aviation” and warned against “attempts to conceal things” in order to avoid such situations in the future.

Levitin stressed the need to step up control over flight safety and noted that airlines have to play a major role in this process.