MOSCOW, March 26. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia's Foreign Ministry has told Ukraine to stop “irresponsible practice which jeopardizes the safety of civil aviation flights”, protesting that Russian aircrews have been prevented from leaving their aircraft for rest breaks.
“On March 25, another Russian Foreign Ministry note was sent to the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow to again draw attention of the Ukrainian side to this with reference to Article 20 of the agreement between the governments of the Russian Federation and Ukraine on air traffic and co-operation on air transport, signed in Moscow on January 12, 1994,” a ministry commentary said.
“According to reports received from Aeroflot-Russian Airlines, appointed on behalf of the Russian Federation to operate regular flights to Ukrainian destinations to transport air passengers, cargoes, luggage and post, Ukraine’s State Border Service keeps forbidding Aeroflot crews to leave their planes," the ministry said.
This “violates provisions of international acts on compliance with flight safety requirements,” the ministry went on.
“Such wrongdoing was applied by the State Border Service of Ukraine, for example, to a co-pilot of Aeroflot’s flight SU1802 on the Moscow-Kiev (Borispol) route on March 24, 2014. Such actions are at variance with provisions of international acts and conventions on safety requirements on international civil aviation flights,” it said.