MOSCOW. Aug 25 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian government is considering a federal bill on stage control over flight security drafted by the Federation Council committee on defense and security, the committee's deputy chairman Vasily Klyuchenok said on Wednesday.
"In particular, the document has been submitted to the Russian Defense Ministry and Transportation Ministry for a review," Klyuchenok told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The bill "On State Regulation, Control and Supervision in Flight Security Maintenance and Use of Air Space of the Russian Federation" was drafted by the committee jointly with interested ministries and agencies, he said.
"It establishes the legal and organizational foundation of state regulation and supervision in the sphere of flight security of all Russian aviation types," Klyuchenok stressed.
"Imperfection of aerial legislation and lack of a single state policy in the flight security maintenance sphere is a full- scale threat to national security," he said.
"Russia has suffered losses exceeding 50 billion Russian rubles ($1.71 billion) due to aircraft crashes in the past five years. Over 3,000 people have been killed and over 220 aircraft lost," Klyuchenok noted.
"Thus, urgency of the bill in the light of today's crash of two passenger planes is more than obvious," he said.
According to Klyuchenok, the bill may be submitted to the State Duma for consideration already this fall, in case a positive review is obtained.