Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kaliningrad
Photo: Ilya Pitalev
| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
President Calls for Further Rearmament
Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday demanded that the reequipping of the Russian Army and Fleet continue. The Defense Ministry has stated that the sum allotted for defense and security in the 2008 budget is secret, but First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov announced last month that the amount earmarked for weapons purchases has been raised by 20 percent. The state defense order for 2008 will therefore be 350-365 billion rubles.
“The state defense order is growing faster than inflation, but the growth of the military budget is not actually reflected in the quantity of equipment purchased. Obviously, Russian industry is still not ready to digest such a large defense order,” commented Dmitry Vasilyev of the Center for Strategy and Technology Analysis.
Putin announced last month that the head strategic atomic submarine Yury Dolgoruky will be launched next year and construction of one more, the fourth, submarine will be started. Sources say launch date of the Yury Dolgoruky has been pushed back to 2009 or 2010 because of difficulties with tests of the new Bulava rocket that the sub will carry.
The Air Force received one new Su-34 bomber this year and will receive another two or three next year, down from the six to ten initially planned. The Defense Ministry is also modernizing its plane fleet. There are reports that two battalions of tanks will be ordered next year, instead of one, as in the last three years, but that information has been doubted because of the Defense Ministry's preference to modernize existing tanks as well.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 21, 2007
|
|
|
