Around the World: Russia

New warplane

Russia's first all-new warplane since the fall of the Soviet Union will make its maiden flight before the end of the year, a senior official said yesterday.

"The prime minister (Vladimir Putin) visited today a section of the aircraft factory where he saw fifth-generation warplanes at the final stage of assembly," Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov told journalists in Komsomolsk in Russia's Far East, where the Sukhoi military and civilian aircraft maker is based. "Before the end of the year, this plane will take to the sky."