Global

Russia agrees to extend overflight approvals for US carriers-State Department

April 18, 2018 12:27·
Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin

The agreement between USA carriers and the Russian government expires at 7:59 p.m. (2359 GMT), State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a daily briefing.

Earlier a spokesman with the US State Department told TASS that the Russian Transport Ministry will extend overflight approvals for US airlines.

"The Russian government did say to our embassy, when we spoke with them: 'Don't panic, we're not going to do anything to harm the USA aviation sector, '" Nauert told reporters.

"Russia has not yet indicated whether it will extend the approvals", the spokeswoman continued.

In the interim, US carrier were making plans to reroute their flights, she said.

In Kano Gunmen kill police officer, kidnap German engineer
In Kano, the police have launched a manhunt for the killers of a policeman during the abduction of a German on Monday. Moses Yamu, said four riot policemen were killed by the "insurgents".

After Gigi Hadid, Zayn Malik ends another long-term relationship
His sophomore album is due in June, and the news comes on the back of the release of his second single from the upcoming work. Stennet has repped the former One Direction singer since 2015 when he made the surprising exit from the British boy band.

AMP Capital Investors Ltd Purchases Shares of 45300 The Blackstone Group (BX)
Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $30.72 on Monday. 37,753 are held by Cohen & Steers Incorporated. (NYSE:DNOW) for 1.49 million shares. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,410,304 shares in the company, valued at $48,726,003.20.

Nauert said the Russian government was not represented at Tuesday's meeting between State Department officials and US commercial and cargo carriers.

Still, U.S. carriers have warned the State Department that they might need to reroute flights and eventually start canceling some routes because of cost concerns if permissions aren't granted.

"We've ramped up our engagement", she said, explaining that what had been contacts between airlines and Russian officials facilitated by a junior USA official now included the ambassador.

Despite the expiring agreement, Russian Federation will allow flights to continue while negotiations are being arranged, Transportation Ministry spokesman Timur Khikmatov said by phone. Russian Federation has sought to use the flights as a source of leverage over the West, announcing a review of foreign carriers' use of the airspace in 2014 as part of a tit-for-tat dispute over Ukraine.

The extensions come amid heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, most recently over the April 14 air strikes by the United States, France, and Britain in Syria in response to a suspected gas attack the Western allies accuse Syrian government forces of carrying out.

Recommended News

Join The Conversation

We are pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news.
Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper.
Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.