diff --git a/run_desktop_tests.py b/run_desktop_tests.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..0201bc75c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/run_desktop_tests.py
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+"""
+This script is mainly for running autotests on the build server, however, it 
+can also be used by engineers to run the tests locally on their machines.
+
+It takes as optional parameters the path to the folder containing the test 
+executables (which must have names ending in _tests), and a list of tests that 
+need to be skipped, this list must be comma separated and contain no spaces. E.g.:
+
+./run_desktop_tests.py -f ./omim-build-release -e drape_tests,some_other_tests
+
+The script outputs the console output of the tests. It also checks the error 
+code of each test suite, and after all the tests are executed, it prints the 
+list of the failed tests, passed tests, skipped tests and tests that could not 
+be found, i.e. the tests that were specified in the skip list, but do not exist.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import print_function
+from os import listdir
+from os.path import isfile, join
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import getopt
+
+
+tests_path = ""
+workspace_path = "./omim-build-release"
+skiplist = []
+
+
+def print_pretty(result, tests):
+    if len(tests) == 0:
+        return
+
+    print("")
+    print(result.upper())
+
+    for test in tests:
+        print("- {}".format(test))
+
+
+def usage():
+    print("""
+Possbile options:
+
+-h --help   : print this help
+
+-f --folder : specify the folder where the tests reside (absolute path or relative to the location of this script)
+
+-e --exclude: list of tests to exclude, comma separated, no spaces allowed
+
+
+Example
+
+./run_desktop_tests.py -f /Users/Jenkins/Home/jobs/Multiplatform/workspace/omim-build-release -e drape_tests,some_other_tests
+""")
+
+
+def set_global_vars():
+    try:
+        opts, args = getopt.getopt(
+            sys.argv[1:],
+            "he:f:",
+            ["help", "exclude=", "folder="])
+    except getopt.GetoptError as err:
+        print(str(err))
+        usage()
+        sys.exit(2)
+
+    for o, a in opts:
+        if o in ("-h", "--help"):
+            usage()
+            sys.exit()
+        elif o in ("-e", "--exclude"):
+            exclude_tests = a.split(",")
+            for exclude_test in exclude_tests:
+                global skiplist
+                skiplist.append(exclude_test)
+        elif o in ("-f", "--folder"):
+            global workspace_path
+            workspace_path = a
+        else:
+            assert False, "unhandled option"
+
+
+def run_tests():
+    tests_path = "{workspace_path}/out/release".format(
+        workspace_path=workspace_path)
+
+    failed = []
+    passed = []
+    skipped = []
+
+    for file in listdir(tests_path):
+
+        if not file.endswith("_tests"):
+            continue
+        if file in skiplist:
+            print("===== Skipping {} =====".format(file))
+            skipped.append(file)
+            continue
+
+        process = subprocess.Popen(
+            tests_path +
+            "/" +
+            file,
+            shell=True,
+            stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
+        process.wait()
+        if process.returncode > 0:
+            failed.append(file)
+        else:
+            passed.append(file)
+
+    return {"failed": failed, "passed": passed, "skipped": skipped}
+
+
+def main():
+    set_global_vars()
+
+    results = run_tests()
+
+    print_pretty("failed", results["failed"])
+    print_pretty("skipped", results["skipped"])
+    print_pretty("passed", results["passed"])
+
+    not_found = filter(lambda x: x not in results["skipped"], skiplist)
+
+    print_pretty("not found", not_found)
+
+    if len(results["failed"]) > 0:
+        exit(1)
+
+
+if (__name__ == "__main__"):
+    main()
+