Maksim covers aerospace developments in Central Asia for Aviation Week. He has worked for Russia's Air Transport Observer magazine and was in charge of several ATO sister aerospace publications after working for the Moscow-based CAST defense think tank.
Maksim has a degree in international relations from MGIMO University, Moscow.
In an industry used to constant growth—with a few hiccups here and there—Russia will deliver the conclusion of an astonishing story in 2014: 24 years after its previous traffic peak in 1990, the Russian air transport industry is finally reaching similar traffic levels.
Russia's government does not plan to cut its military expenditures, even in the face of economic stagnation. The draft federal budgets for 2014 and for 2015-16, approved in the first reading by the State Duma at the end of October, continue to call for double-digit increases in spending on national defense despite the overall budget deficit planned for these years.
