Rogozin Tabooed Open Quarrels on Military Products Quality

17.02.2012 Russian vice premier Dmitry Rogozin imposed a ban on public debates of Russian armaments and functioning of national defense industry. "Being entitled to that, I strictly forbid military officials and representatives of defense industry to hold any discussions through media. All debates in this regard must be held only within occupational circle", reports RIA Novosti citing Rogozin.

As for him, all claims of defense ministry against manufacturers including quality of military equipment must be discussed only at core conferences. "I mean meetings held with participation of designers", explained the vice premier.

Throughout the recent year, Russian-made defense products delivered to national armed forces have been severely criticized by military officials. In particular, in 2011 and early 2012 Russian Land Force Commander-in-Chief Alexander Postnikov, ex-defense minister Vladimir Popovkin, Russian Air Force Commander-in-Chief Alexander Zelin, and Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov complained about poor performance and high cost of Russian arms.

Nikolai Makarov said on Feb 14 that defense ministry had imposed a 5-year ban on procurement of armored vehicles for land forces. As for him, that period would be enough for defense industry to design new vehicles. Earlier on, Makarov said some Russian-made military hardware yielded to foreign analogs.

In reply to public statement of the general, Rogozin posted the following on his Twitter blog: "If CGS [Chief of the General Staff] has claims against tanks or other equipment, he may sound them to our designers and industrialists within professional environment".