All news

Russian-made Cortege limousine delivered to Finland ahead of Putin-Trump meeting — media

The Cortege project currently envisages creating four models

HELSINKI, July 12. /TASS/. The new limousine Aurus from the Cortege project of domestically-produced autos for Russia’s top officials has been delivered to Finland ahead of a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump, the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat reported on Thursday.

According to the paper, the limousine was delivered to Finland aboard an Il-76 plane on Thursday. The paper posted its photo made near the Helsinki-Vantaa airport.

The Uniform Modular Platform project (better known as the Cortege project) envisages creating a family of automobiles on the basis of the uniform platform. The Project has been implemented since 2013 when the NAMI enterprise was chosen as the sole contractor in accordance with the government’s decision to implement an order placed by the country’s Industry and Trade Ministry for creating a family of limousines for top Russian officials.

The Cortege project currently envisages creating four models: a sedan, a limousine (the sedan’s extended version), an off-road vehicle and a minivan. The project’s key task is to create a limousine for the head of the Russian state.

Putin used the new Russian limousine for the first time during his presidential inauguration ceremony on May 7. Since then, the head of the Russian state has been using it for moving across Moscow.

The commercial sales of Aurus automobiles earlier known as the Cortege project automobiles are due to begin in 2019.

As the Kremlin press office reported earlier, the Trump-Putin meeting will take place on July 16. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said the leaders of both countries will discuss some uneasy issues, including a comprehensive discussion of the Syria situation.