Y-20 cargo plane makes first visit to Russia

China’s domestically developed Y-20 large transport aircraft on Saturday landed in Russian capital Moscow for the first time, sending Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) honor guard members to participate in the Russian Victory Day parade scheduled for June 24 despite the seriousness of the COVID-19 situation in the country. This long-distance flight not only demonstrated the aircraft’s technical capability, but also displayed the high-level military cooperation between China and Russia, experts said on Monday.

Carrying 105 members of the PLA honor guard, the Y-20 cargo plane arrived at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Sunday.

At the invitation of the Russian side, the PLA soldiers will join the Russian Victory Day parade at Moscow’s Red Square scheduled for June 24, the report said.

The Y-20’s first Russia visit showed that it has achieved full mission capability in terms of both support and performance, and this type of aircraft will appear in public more often and conduct different missions in the future, Wang Ya’nan, chief editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times on Monday.

China previously used Il-76s as its main type of large transport aircraft, importing from Russia in the early 1990s. The Y-20’s first visit to Russia this time marked a new start, analysts said.

While Russia has announced that the peak of the epidemic has passed, the situation remains severe. It recorded 8,835 new cases on Sunday, bringing the total number to 528,964, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

At this special time, Chinese side is still sending troops to Russia to take part in the parade. This shows China’s important support for Russia and demonstrates the high-level military cooperation between the two countries, said Liu Wendou, co-chairman at think tank Grandview Institution’s Decision-making Committee and director of the Russia Central Asian Research Center.