Russia to Spend RUR 880 Bln for Arms in 2012

15.11.2011 Russian federal budget 2012 provides over RUR 880 bln for arms procurement, modernization and RD works, said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at the meeting on defense order issues.

As for him, it was invested RUR 750 bln for this purpose in 2011 which is 1.5 times larger than in 2009.

Considering such significant funds appropriated for defense order, Putin turned attention to the necessity of cooperation amid all agencies, primarily between defense ministry and military-oriented industry.

According to the premier, "money should work effectively, and all spendings must be thoroughly justified".

Putin emphasized that "defense industry should clearly understand what kind of demands are placed on production and how future contracts would be financed".

"Defense ministry must be also aware what benchmark price is. We came to conclusion in Arkhangelsk that defense ministry should change some views on the problem as well", Putin said.

To avoid the situation happened this year to defense contracting, Putin proposed to establish a special panel including representatives of governmental economic committee, defense ministry, tariff service, ministry of industry, and ministry of finance. Main purpose of such panel would be "pricing issues not only regarding end items but along the whole production chain and assortment", stressed Vladimir Putin.

The second task would be "not only monitoring of timely contracting but control over all stages of contract execution and production quality".

"If we fail to create a reliable tool in this area, we would be out of schedule", concluded Vladimir Putin.