The authorities have acknowledged that work on the creation of the light multi-purpose aircraft "Baikal", which hurried Putin: "Today we have reached a dead end."

“That means we are not expecting the Baikal aircraft,” said Plenipotentiary Representative to the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev at an extended meeting of the State Duma Committee on the Far East and the Arctic. Attention to this turned "Agency." Less than a year ago, Trutnev говорилthat Putin exerted a "magical influence" on the "corn" project, causing it to become half the price stated by the manufacturers.

This is one of the many failures of Russia's import substitution program in the aviation industry, which officials and Putin himself have repeatedly announced with great fanfare. In December 2023, рассказал about plans to produce over 1 aircraft by 2030. Subsequently, the figure had to be correct and delay the construction of new aircraft. Meanwhile, Russia's existing fleet is rapidly becoming obsolete.   

The Baikal was supposed to replace the An-2, which had been in service since 1947, but now authorities are planning to replace its engines.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade tried smooth out Trutnev's words had a negative effect, stating that the new aircraft only needed to be improved and a new engine created.   

The Baikal was originally planned to begin production in 2024, but the deadline was later pushed back. The plane was originally supposed to cost no more than 120 million rubles, but by 2024, its price had tripled. Putin expressed dissatisfaction with this, and just a week later, the plane "magically" fell in price 2 times, but it didn't help him.