Izvestia: "Vladimir Putin appoints state defence order monitor"
The prime minister lashed out at his ministers for failed arms supplies contracts.
On November 14 Prime Minister Vladimir Putin criticised the heads of the Defence Ministry and the economic departments that were responsible for signing contracts on state defence orders. During his recent trip to Severodvinsk, Putin had to accommodate prices on submarine supplies. To make sure the 20 trillion roubles allocated for the arms programme does not go up in smoke, the prime minister ordered the creation of a special working group under the auspices of the military-industrial complex to monitor the costs of defence contracts and the quality of the end product.
The signing of contracts for the development and construction of submarines has been suspended more than once because the Defence Ministry has failed to negotiate all the costs of the contracts with the enterprises concerned.
"Why weren't there any problems with pricing on civilian contracts? Everything was priced according to schedule. Isn't this possible with federal funds? Twenty trillion roubles is a huge sum and if we fall behind the production schedule we won't meet our objectives," Putin lashed out at the conferees.
This is why he ordered the creation of a special group. His Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told Izvestia that the group will include representatives from the Defence Ministry, the government's economic bloc (the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade) and the military-industrial complex.
Peskov explained to Izvestia what each member of the group will do: "The military will set specifications for the quality of equipment, the economists will deal with the costs and the manufacturers will assess the feasibility of the contracts."
Igor Borovkov, head of the Defence Industry Committee Administration, told Izvestia that the prime minister appointed him to be in charge of the new group. The group's membership is not yet known. Putin has given Borovkov a month to organise it.
"I think we'll be able to review the contracts under the 2011 state defence order. We'll have to do much next year as well," Borovkov told Izvestia. "Defence order procurements for next year include about 3,000 contracts on weapons development and production alone."
The group will monitor state defence order contracts from the moment they are signed to the production of the end product and the delivery to the Armed Forces.
"You must guarantee a smooth fulfillment of these long-term contracts and prevent delays in supplying equipment to the army," Putin said, setting the goals for the new working group. "You must lay down requirements for MIC hardware and ensure that the allocations are spent effectively. There can be no tolerance for unjustified expenses or padded bills," Putin warned.
Anastasia Novikova
