MOSCOW, Sept. 2 – Antonov State Enterprise is ready to launch the manufacture of An-70 aircraft in another country if Russia quits the project, Antonov State Enterprise President and Chief Designer Dmytro Kiva told Interfax-AVN.

"I've got four Western countries that wish to cooperate with us. If Russia gives up the An-70 [project], I'll put the aircraft into mass production in another country as early as tomorrow. I've got people standing and begging. But it's Russia's own aircraft industry, which is engaged in An-70 cooperation, that will suffer," he said.