VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:
Vladimir Putin: Mr Grodetsky, you know that we in the government are carrying out a detailed examination of the situation across the defence industry. We have not yet considered small arms. But we do have definite plans and you are well aware of them.
Izhmash (JSC Izhmash, Izhevsk Machine-Building Factory) is a company with both tradition and prospects. Last year, we allocated resources, then sent them to the authorised capital and made a decision on guarantees.
Let's talk about the company's current status in more detail. How is it resolving all its crisis-related problems and what will we select as its main lines of activity for the near future?
Vladimir Grodetsky: Good. Mr Putin, let me talk about the current state of affairs for a couple of minutes.
Today, the city of Izhevsk is home to the design and production of: over 80% of automatic small arms, over 90% of sniper rifles, over 50% of grenade launchers, around 95% of all the small arms that Russia exports, practically 100% of pistol production and about 95% of sports and hunting rifles.
Accordingly, the Russian government decided to establish a holding company under the auspices of the Rostekhnologii (Russian Technologies) state corporation to design and produce advanced models of automatic weapons and sniper rifles.
These are new and highly unusual times for us. More precisely, it is not the times, which are unusual, but the demands that are today being placed on us.
First of all, we have to form a holding company within a state corporation. This results in the formation of new vertical and horizontal ties, and which requires we carry out some reorganisation.
In addition, we are currently seeing a sharp increase in the demand for weapons for anti-terrorist operations. Forming a new image of the army is very important for us. We are trying to participate in this process as much as possible.
In terms of sales, the army of course wants to order advanced equipment. This is nothing new to you, we spoke about it on September 9, consequently, state orders for conventional weapons were lower than in previous years.
Vladimir Putin: But that was the Defence Ministry's decision.
Vladimir Grodetsky: Yes. At the time, you invited the Defence Minister, and we went along to figure it out. On balance, the global financial crisis did have an impact. Some orders and contracts were suspended. I would like to thank you today. I know that yesterday thanks to your political influence and involvement, a contract that we greatly needed was signed, and it will keep one of our companies busy for at least two years.
Vladimir Putin: It won't be the last of its kind.
Vladimir Grodetsky: I hope so. I very much hope so. When we met with you together with Sergei Chemezov (general director of Rostekhnologii), I said...
Vladimir Putin: We signed contracts worth a total of 1.3 billion euros then.
Vladimir Grodetsky: A significant amount...
Vladimir Putin: But that was not only small arms...
Vladimir Grodetsky: I understand, of course. But it really is a very important contract for us, because it involves many of our lines of business. When Sergei Chemezov and I met with you, I my report mentioned in my report that access to financial resources, primarily to loans, had become more difficult.
This problem still remains. And in conjunction with this, of course, the measures that the Russian government is taking to support the defence industry, and our companies, are important to us. I would like to express my gratitude.
Everybody now knows that an anti-crisis loan was extended to one of our companies that manufactures light machine-guns, automatic mounted grenade launchers, anti-tank guided missiles and light anti-tank grenade launchers. The company is in a one-industry town, Vyatskiye Polyany, near Udmurtia.
An anti-crisis loan was made and now measures taken in relation to this company have become part of the programme for one-industry towns. The town itself has been included in the programme for one-industry towns.
As for the companies in the city of Izhevsk, we began full-scale production modernisation three years ago. Our goal is to achieve modern production equalling that of Europe's finest weapons plants. This would enable us to accomplish several aims. First of all, an improvement in the weapons' quality and their tactical and technical features and streamlining production which could considerably affect the pricing of the weapons, which is also not unimportant. In addition, we want production to be as versatile as possible, so that it is able to make any weapon required by the defence and security-related sector, in response to changing circumstances.
So I would also like to thank you for this. When we started to implement this project, in the first two years, we invested considerable funds, around 15 million euros, and completed the first stage. But then we again started experiencing financial difficulties. That was when we presented a project, asking the government to invest around two billion in the authorised capital and provide 2.8 billion in loan guarantees.
You supported us. There is already a directive from (Deputy Prime Minister) Sergei Ivanov on the consideration of this proposal so that a specific financial decision can be made on it.
Vladimir Putin: We will talk in a little bit more detail about weapons for the Ministry of Defence and the intelligence services.
As for sports rifles, you know that both our male and female biathlon athletes are performing well at the moment. What plans do you have in this regard?
Vladimir Grodetsky: Today, there are two companies in the world that manufacture weapons for the biathlon: Anschutz (Germany) and the Izhevsk Machine-Building Factory. Unfortunately, over the past 20 years, we have fallen somewhat behind.
Today, we have made significant progress. We have resolved several technical problems and created new prototypes. And now there are many athletes, not only Russian, but American, German and Norwegian athletes who compete using our rifles.
We have started servicing our rifles at all competitions.
Vladimir Putin: That was very important.
Vladimir Grodetsky: Yes, this was a very important aspect that for some reason we hadn't considered for the last 15 years. Now, we have implemented it. In other words, we have set up a group that travels with the Biathletes Union to every important competition to service their rifles.
Therefore, Mr Putin, let's return to what you started with: small arms. You held a very good meeting on artillery equipment in Kolomna, and we want to ask you to hold a similar meeting for small arms, sniper rifles, and close combat weapons at our plant in Izhevsk. We could also talk about sports rifles, and demonstrate them for you.
You asked me about the biathlon. I want to say that I was in Norway recently. In their clubs, half the athletes were using our rifles. Half of Norway's athletes, and they have 400 biathlon clubs.
Vladimir Putin: We need all 100% to be using our rifles. We'll hold such a meeting for sure.
Vladimir Grodetsky: Thank you.
