KAZAN, February 22. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has completed a flight on an upgraded Tupolev Tu-160M strategic bomber (NATO reporting name: Blackjack).

The flight lasted 30 minutes; pre-flight preparation took about 45 minutes. The aircraft, named Ilya Muromets, took off from the Gorbunov Kazan Aviation Plant’s runway.

The Tu-160М missile-carrying strategic bomber is an upgraded version of the Tu-160 aircraft. It is designed to strike enemy targets in remote areas with nuclear and conventional weapons. The Tu-160 is the world’s largest supersonic military aircraft and the heaviest warplane. On Wednesday, Putin inspected such a plane in the plant's workshop and climbed into the cockpit.

This was not the Russian head of state’s first time on a Tu-160 aircraft. In August 2005, the president took the plane to travel to the area where the Northern Fleet and long-range aircraft were conducting exercises.