The arrival of a US Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport may indicate preparations for contacts between the two sides, State Duma Defense Committee member Andrey Kolesnik told Lenta.ru.
The aircraft, operating under flight number RCH4555, arrived in Moscow from Riga. Kolesnik questioned whether the landing could have been caused by a technical problem, arguing that in such a case the crew could have chosen another airfield closer to its route.
The lawmaker described the appearance of the American military transport aircraft in the Russian capital as a positive sign. He noted that C-17 aircraft can be used to transport members of the military command and therefore did not rule out a possible connection between the flight and future talks. Kolesnik stressed that this remained his own assumption.
He also pointed to the fact that the US Air Force aircraft was able to land at Vnukovo without obstruction. According to Kolesnik, an aircraft that had crossed the Russian border illegally would not have been able to land freely at one of Moscow’s key airports.