Press Release: EU and Russia agree on abolition of EUR 300 million Siberian overflight payments

Six months after having obtained the mandate from EU Member States, the European Commission has succeeded in negotiating an agreement with the Russian Federation on the longstanding issue of Siberian overflight payments. It finally solves a 20-year thorny conflict between the EU Member States and the Russian Federation, costing around € 300 million to EU airlines in 2006. Vice-President Jacques Barrot initialled the agreement with the Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin in the margins of the EU-Russia summit in Helsinki on 24 November 2006 in the presence of the Finnish transport Minister Ms Susanna Huovinen.