RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, April 11 - Trials of the Antonov An-70 Russian-Ukrainian modernized military transport airplane have been suspended due to the absence of the Russian partners in the project, Dmytro Kiva, president and chief designer of Antonov State Enterprise, based in Kiev, said.

"Russian representatives have not participated in An-70 trials since last November. We have officially invited them to the trials more than once, but we have not received any official reply from the Russian side. The Russian Defense Ministry's officer in charge of this project said over the phone that there were no instructions regarding this issue. That is why I decided to suspend the An-70 trials," Kiva told journalists on the sidelines of an international weapons exhibition in Rio de Janeiro.

This decision will also allow the Russian partners not to question the results of the trials conducted by Ukraine single-handedly, he said.