newstodate.aero
Sep 12, 2006 (newstodate): Russia seems to have hardened its stand on the issue of western airlines' payment for Siberian overflights.
Russia now threatens not only not to accept a gradual phasing out of the charges, collected by Aeroflot on behalf of Russia, but even to be considering not to abolish the charges entirely by 2013 as earlier agreed in talks with EU.
Russia has also turned down a proposal by EU to exempt new routes from overflight charges, proposing instead that western airlines buy additional flight quotas from Russian airlines when considering new routes over Russia's polar territory.
Thus hopes for a special Finnish touch to ease the tensions and find solutions to the long-overdue problems during its EU presidency seem to vanish, leaving the sensitive issues to Germany, to take over presidency from the start of 2007.
Russia now threatens not only not to accept a gradual phasing out of the charges, collected by Aeroflot on behalf of Russia, but even to be considering not to abolish the charges entirely by 2013 as earlier agreed in talks with EU.
Russia has also turned down a proposal by EU to exempt new routes from overflight charges, proposing instead that western airlines buy additional flight quotas from Russian airlines when considering new routes over Russia's polar territory.
Thus hopes for a special Finnish touch to ease the tensions and find solutions to the long-overdue problems during its EU presidency seem to vanish, leaving the sensitive issues to Germany, to take over presidency from the start of 2007.