Russian Presidential Aircraft-Ilyushin Il-96-300PU (photos)

The Russian presidential aircraft are aircraft of the Russian presidential fleet used by the President of Russia and other government officials, the presidential fleet is operated by Rossiya Airlines. As Russia is the largest country on Earth by land area, distances within Russia can be very long, and air travel is frequently needed for the President to travel across the country as well as internationally.
The main presidential aircraft is the four-engined, long-range, widebody Ilyushin Il-96-300PU, a highly modified Il-96, with the two last letters standing for "Command Point" in Russian. Four modified Il-96s have been used as presidential aircraft, the first one was used by the first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin. In 2005, the second aircraft was used by President Vladimir Putin. In 2010, the third president, Dmitry Medvedev, announced that he wanted to expand the presidential fleet with two more aircraft, manufactured by the Voronezh Aircraft Plant. Previously the president had used Ilyushin Il-62, Tupolev Tu-154, and Yakovlev Yak-40 aircraft.