US sanctions force Russia to delay MC-21 plane: Rostec CEO

Production of the MC-21 plane, which Russia hoped could revive its civil aviation industry, has been delayed for a year due to US sanctions, the head of the Rostec conglomerate said yesterday. “Due to the fact that the Americans have stopped supplying composite materials, we are switching to our own,” Sergey Chemezov told Russian news agencies in Abu Dhabi.

“The date of the beginning of mass production is slightly shifting” and is now expected by the end of 2020, he said. Sanctions came into force last September against Russian companies involved in the creation of the plane, which Washington said were acting “contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States”. Russia unveiled the prototype of the MC-21 in 2016.