On October 3, 1968, the first flight of the Tupolev Tu-154 jet airliner took place

3 October 2025, 8:00

The aircraft was piloted by a crew led by test pilot Yuri Sukhov.

Work on the design of the Tu-154 at the A.N. Tupolev Design Bureau began in 1963. The project was led by Andrei Tupolev, with chief designers Dmitry Markov, Sergey Yeger, Alexander Shengardt, and Andrei Grishin.

Serial production of the aircraft began in 1970 at Kuybyshev Aviation Plant No. 18 (now “Aviakor”).

The Tu-154 is the most mass-produced Soviet jet airliner, with a total of 930 aircraft built. Until the late 2000s, it remained one of the main aircraft on medium-range routes.

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MOSCOW, April 19. /TASS/. EU bureaucrats are too blind and are unable to grasp the scale of the reaction in European countries caused by their misguided decisions, said Kirill Dmitriev (pictured above), Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF)

“No kidding — exactly as predicted, and exactly what EU bureaucrats initially denied, too blind to grasp the scale of the shock their own bad decisions would unleash on Europe,” he wrote on X . Dmitriev was commenting on a Bloomberg report stating that the cumulative effect of the conflict in the Middle East is expected to begin manifesting as early as next week.

20 April 2026, 12:02

Following Latvia and Lithuania, Estonia has also banned Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico from flying over its territory to Moscow for the Victory Day celebrations on May 9

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna stated that the country will not allow its airspace to be used for trips that strengthen ties with Russia. Fico said he would look for an alternative route. Without any doubt, Fico will find such an alternative route. As for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, they may suffer significantly on the route they have chosen.

20 April 2026, 10:02