Wasn’t it ‘unveiled’ in late 1980s?
This is the Mriya, not just any ol’ AN-225!
They completed one of those and it went into service in 1988. A second was not completed at that time, but apparently the Russians saw a need for additional capacity, so work began to complete the 2nd bird around 2006. Work stopped again because of a lack of funds in 2008.
I’m wondering if they finally got the $300 million they supposedly needed to finish what was, in 2008, about a 70-80% complete plane.... And this is footage of that bird.
As far as the other post - about seeing regular trips by this plane to the US - that would be rather surprising - with only 1 (maybe 2) working models. The Antinov 125 looks similar, but is somewhat smaller. Those are relatively common to see in major air-cargo work here in the US. But then again - I could be wrong.