Russia needs such airplanes An-124 Ruslan and upgraded Il-76, President Vladimir Putin said during the combined Direct Line Q&A session and year-end press conference headlined "Results of the Year."

"Do we need such airplanes as Ruslan? In general yes, and the upgraded Il-76 is needed also - we will develop, everything is needed, very important. Furthermore, this is high-technology production, requiring very large-scale cooperation of such technological level," the president said.

"There are issues requiring additional decisions and there are plenty of further matters, but we will definitely deal with all of them," Putin added.