According to Reuters, Russia’s top carrier Aeroflot could still buy aircraft from U.S.-based Boeing despite a major contract with Europe’s Airbus, Economy Minister German Gref told reporters on Thursday.

Aeroflot will buy two second-hand A-330s this year, three planes next year and a total of 15 in the next few years, Aeroflot deputy general director Lev Koshlyakov told Reuters on Wednesday.

But that does not mean state-controlled Aeroflot will not buy Boeing aircraft, Gref said.

“Boeing works very well on the Russian market,” Gref told reporters in Moscow.

Aeroflot, which wants to upgrade its fleet, has been mulling the purchase of at least 22 long-distance 787 Dreamliners from Boeing in a deal valued at $2.5 billion to $3.0 billion and the same number of long-distance A-350s from Airbus.

But the Russian government, which needs to give its approval for Aeroflot to buy the planes, failed to make a decision by the deadline for reaching a deal under an interim agreement.

The missed deadline lost Aeroflot a Boeing discount and provoked speculation Russian officials did not want Aeroflot to buy from Boeing after tension between Moscow and Washington over a host of international issues.

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