The Moscow Times
The government has changed tack in its efforts to save the Russian civil aviation industry.
Plans to tap the expertise of multinational European defense and aerospace heavy-hitter EADS have been abandoned as state-owned Vneshekonombank sells its $2.3 billion stake in the company and prepares to commit the proceeds to Sukhoi, whose flagship SuperJet 100 plane is struggling to get off the ground.
Vneshekonombank’s 5 percent stake has already dwindled, possibly to nothing. On July 26, VEB sold shares in EADS worth an estimated 763 million euros ($1 billion). The bank’s remaining 2.9-percent stake, now worth about 1 billion euros, may also have already been sold, said a source in United Aircraft Corporation, the industry-spanning holding company of which Sukhoi is part, Kommersant reported.
President Vladimir Putin has already approved a preliminary plan to assist civil aviation company Sukhoi by means of the sale of EADS stock, a government employee told Vedomosti.