MOSCOW, September 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has removed the first deputy prime ministers from a list of officials permitted to use private planes, the Kommersant newspaper said on Wednesday.
In Russia only the president, prime minister, foreign minister and speakers of both chambers of the Russian parliament have access to private planes. Other top officials can only receive an aircraft from the state-run Rossiya Airline at the president's approval.
A Kremlin source told the newspaper the decision was part of cost-cutting measures. "The number of private planes was growing too high," he said.
First deputy premiers, Viktor Zubkov and Igor Shuvalov, who were waiting to be assigned a plane, will continue to travel on commercial passenger flights.
