Russia's Transport Ministry to Discuss Ban on Dual Registration of Aircraft With Turkey

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Moscow considers the Turkish ban on flights of Russian jets with dual registration discriminatory and is going to discuss it with counterparts in Ankara in coming days, the Russian Transport Ministry told Sputnik on Tuesday.

Turkey has closed its airspace to planes registered in two countries starting November 1, according to reports.

"In the coming days we will discuss this issue with the Turkish aviation authorities," the ministry said, adding that "the so-called dual registration, which foreign nations accuse the Russian side of, is discrimination directly contradicting goals and tasks of the International Civil Aviation Organization, founded by the article 44 of the Chicago Convention."

Russia has asked Bermuda to remove the aircraft registered and operated in Russia from its registry, and the fact that the British overseas territory is delaying the delisting is a grave violation of the Chicago Convention, the ministry said.

"The situation is as follows – unfriendly countries accuse us of dual registration created by them and do not notice at all that they violate the main principles of the Chicago Conventions themselves," the ministry said.

Bermuda's aircraft registry includes about 900 jets, 740 of which are in use by Russian air operators. On March 12, the Bermudan government sided with the UK sanctions against Russia and announced suspension of all Certificates of Airworthiness of the Russian aircraft registered in Bermuda.