Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday called for a sharp reduction in the number of domestic airlines and said the country may have to resort to buying foreign-built aircraft to improve its shaky air safety record. Medvedev made the comments after visiting the** crash site of a Yak-42** about 150 miles north of Moscow that killed 43 on Wednesday, most of them members of a Russian ice hockey team.
“We must support our own people. If we are unable to sort it out, we must buy foreign aircraft,” Medvedev said on Thursday. “I am giving the government an order and they will have to find the money. It will be a big program.”
