The launch of drones between Russia and China in the summer of 2026 will become the first step toward unmanned cargo transportation between the two countries, Russian Transport Minister Andrey Nikitin said at the International Transport and Logistics Forum.

"The first international drone flight between Russia and China is scheduled for this summer in Blagoveshchensk. Drones in the form of the Firebird on the Russian side and the Phoenix on the Chinese side will cross the border over the Amur River as part of the ‘Shores of Taste’ festival. This is the first step toward creating international unmanned transport for cargo transportation between Russia and China," he said.

The Transport Ministry had earlier also reported work on launching unmanned traffic along the Primorye-2 international transport corridor, one of the key multimodal cargo routes between the two countries.

TASS is the general information partner of the forum.