When President Vladimir V. Putin travels overseas — as he did this week to North Korea and Vietnam to bolster alliances and nurture safety ties amid Russia’s struggle in Ukraine — he usually flies in dated, Soviet-designed Ilyushin Il-96 collection jets.
Together with his newest journey coming shortly after plane crashes killed two different world leaders, President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran and Vice President Saulos Chilima of Malawi, a Kremlin spokesman felt it vital just lately to reassure the Russian public that Mr. Putin’s planes have been “very dependable.”
Although Russian airline carriers have deserted Ilyushin fashions in favor of newer Western fashions — neither of the nation’s two main airways, Aeroflot and Rossiya, presently listing any Ilyushin planes of their industrial passenger fleet — Mr. Putin appears steadfast in his dedication.
Accompanied by fighter jets, Mr. Putin took an Il-96 on a whirlwind day journey in 2023 for talks with leaders in United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Earlier that very same yr, one other airplane within the authorities’s Il-96 fleet was tracked stopping at airports in Washington and New York to retrieve Russian diplomats who the Kremlin stated had been ordered to go away the USA.
In 2018, Mr. Putin traveled to Finland in an Il-96 — and was accused of briefly trespassing in NATO airspace — for a summit assembly with former U.S. President Donald J. Trump.
Little is understood concerning the Rossiya particular flight squadron, often known as the 235th separate aviation detachment, that’s accountable for the Kremlin’s aircrafts, together with the Il-96s, Tu-214 airplanes and Mi-38 helicopters. Russian state media reviews that 2,500 folks work within the unit.
Although utilizing an outdated airplane might baffle outsiders, Mr. Putin could also be utilizing the Soviet-designed plane to ship a message of Russian resiliency and power.
“It’s the musings of a czar,” stated Adam Taichi Kraft, a former intelligence assortment strategist with the Protection Intelligence Company who now consults on nationwide safety points, “to have the ability to will himself into the sky utilizing no matter tools he needs.”
