Post Ethiopia crash: Moscow wants Pobeda to buy Russian made planes instead of Boeing

Russia's government has proposed budget airline Pobeda, a subsidiary of national carrier Aeroflot, buy Russian-made planes instead of 30 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, the Vedomosti business daily reported on Friday. Vedomosti said the proposal was unrelated to Sunday's deadly plane crash in Ethiopia involving a Boeing plane and said the government wanted Pobeda to buy Russian-made MS-21 commercial passenger planes to support domestic industry.

Pobeda last year asked the government to approve the purchase of 50 Boeing 737 Max aircraft. The company has already signed a contract to receive 20 of them from 2019 to 2021. The government authorised obtaining 20 of the planes, but has not yet authorised the acquisition of the remaining 30, Vedomosti cited two sources as saying.

(With inputs from agencies.)