Russian aircraft manufacturer PJSC Yakovlev has submitted a claim for roughly 5.2 billion rubles against investment firm Finam in the Moscow Arbitration Court.
Court filings cited by state news agency RIA Novosti show the lawsuit also names Finam founder Viktor Remsha and German company Raikhlin Aircraft Engine Developments GmbH as co-defendants. The claim was submitted on August 27 and has not yet been formally accepted by the court, while the specific grounds for the financial demand remain undisclosed.
PJSC Yakovlev is the developer of Russia's new domestic passenger jetliners, the MC-21 and the SJ-100, which is an import-substituted variant of the SSJ-100 Superjet. Serial production of the SJ-100 and official certification of the MC-21 were previously scheduled for 2026, but Russian authorities postponed both milestones to 2027.
Diesel engine development program
In 2021, reports revealed that Raikhlin Aircraft Engine Developments, known as RED, was working on an innovative diesel powerplant called the RED A03. The project was financed by Finam, a Moscow-headquartered financial services group.
Developers originally planned to install the RED A03 engine on the Yak-18T, a four-seat passenger and training aircraft designed in the Soviet Union during the 1960s. RED was established in the 2000s by Vladimir Raikhlin, an aircraft engine engineer who graduated from the Kazan Aviation Institute.
Prior lawsuits and criminal conviction
The lawsuit in Moscow follows previous legal action involving the German engine maker. One year ago, Russian manufacturer Russo-Balt, which produces aircraft powerplants, engines, and ground flight simulators, won an arbitration case against RED after the firm failed to deliver seven RED A03 engines, spare parts kits, and 27 propeller systems.
Company founder Vladimir Raikhlin is currently serving a five-year prison sentence in Germany. German courts convicted him for illegally exporting military-grade equipment to Russia between 2015 and 2021 in violation of international trade sanctions.
