Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev intends to form a consortium to resume work on the Baikal aircraft project.

"I will engage in a type of activity that is not typically part of my responsibilities, but I will gather additional aircraft designers and listen to their proposals," he told reporters.

Trutnev emphasized that he opposes the idea of abandoning aircraft production. "First, we need to understand who was responsible for this project and hold them accountable. Second, I fundamentally dislike the idea of abandoning the development of a new aircraft and continuing to fly planes that were designed 60-80 years ago," the Deputy Prime Minister added.

Trutnev had previously stated that the Baikal aircraft project had reached an impasse and that production was not expected.

However, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade has emphasized that the effectiveness of improvements to the Baikal light aircraft has been confirmed, and that research and development efforts on the project will continue.