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An-70 plane project political issue with Ukraine - dep. minister

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MOSCOW, June 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's participation in a project with Ukraine to build the An-70 military transport aircraft is a political rather than technological issue, a deputy defense minister said Tuesday.

Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said at the end of May that Russia was pulling out of the project to build the giant plane, which was started in 1984.

But General Alexei Moskovsky told journalists, "I would not like to comment on the technological side of the problem, as we could do anything in terms of technology. I would also like to stress that the success of the project depends 80% on Russia's involvement in it, on our enterprises' cooperation."

The program on the An-70, which would have larger payload capacities than the U.S. C-130 Hercules, has experienced a number of setbacks. Major concerns have been around the D-27 turbopropfan engines designed by Ukraine's Progress design bureau. Its first prototype was lost in a mid-air collision in 1995, while the second prototype crash-landed in January 2001 during a test flight in Russia.

Moskovsky said Russia had alternative, less risky aircraft projects to implement, without elaborating further. But he said the issue would be settled in a "civilized" way.

"Russia and Ukraine have certain commitments under the project, and they will be discussed at the level of the foreign ministries and an inter-state commission," the general said.

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