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By Trend

Aviation authorities of Russia and the United States and US airlines should sign an agreement on transit across the territory of Russia by the end of this year, Acting Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov told reporters on Monday, TASS reports.

"Such an agreement should be signed by the end of the year not merely with US air carriers but also with US aviation authorities at the level of the Russian Ministry of Transport and Russian aviation authorities. Certain arrangements must be achieved there, which should definitely satisfy our country and our transport sector from the political and the economic standpoint, the official said.

Russia expects to hold talks with the United States on air communication in the near future, he added. "We are preparing our position. First of all, it will be based on the interests of Russia, development of the transport industry. It will be an informed decision, but we need to come to it. We are formulating our position now. We expect to hold official negotiations with our American partners in the near future," he said.

There is no critical situation with US visas of Aeroflot crews and the issue can be resolved in the course of the nearest talks, Sokolov said.

"This is not a challenge now. In other words, there is no critical situation but this is an issue. In particular, we expect to close it out within the framework of our talks," the minister said.

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