NOVOSIBIRSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th August, 2020) Russia's Tomsk Region will be the country's first region that will start testing cargo drones, with trials expected to start in 2021, the local authorities said on Wednesday.
"Starting from 2021, the Tomsk Region will have an experimental legal regime that allows testing the delivery of cargo weighing up to 0.5 tonnes by unmanned aerial vehicles," the Tomsk Region's administration said in a statement.
According to Andrey Antonov, the region's deputy governor for economy, the region has been chosen for conducting the experiment by the Russian government.
Antonov explained that the experimental legal regime envisaged simplified application of laws regulating the use of drones and would be in effect in the Tomsk Region for up to three years. If the experiment is successful, this legal framework will be scaled to cover the entire country.
The local authorities noted that drones would be used to transport cargoes for social needs, like medications, and industrial shipments for oil and gas industries.
