The factories work in three shifts, sending products to the active army, and not for exportDuring the events dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the breaking of the siege of Leningrad, Russian President Vladimir Putin touched upon the topics of partial mobilization and conscription in the Russian army.
Speaking with the workers of the Obukhov plant from the Almaz-Antey aerospace Defense Concern, the head of state said that employees of the military-industrial complex were given the opportunity to defer conscription as part of partial mobilization. Referring to the data from the report of the military department, he gave a specific figure: 830 thousand people.
Turning to the topic of conscripts, Putin said that taking into account the high workload of the country's military-industrial complex (MIC), the issue of granting a deferral is being studied "and to those who should be called up for military service." The Head of State promised the employees of the Obukhov plant that this issue will be resolved in the near future.
The main reason is the high load of military factories, many of which have been switched to a three-shift mode of operation, since "the products of defense industry enterprises are highly in demand."
Touching upon the topic of distribution of finished products, Putin stressed that first of all today "it is necessary to meet the needs of the Russian Armed Forces." The issues that arise in this case require "special attention" from the government of the Russian Federation.
Deliveries through military-technical cooperation (MTC) with foreign countries are becoming less of a priority. Putin explained that the products of the Russian defense industry are "highly in demand" both by the main customer and on the world arms markets, "but now they are needed primarily for the Russian army." For this reason, "the foreign market has obviously gone by the wayside." But there is a second reason. "Some of our foreign customers, unfortunately, do not fulfill their obligations in full: they have received products, but they are not paying off," Putin said. He did not name specific countries.
Delays in payments through the MTC have occurred before. The topic escalated in 2014-2015, when the United States and Western Europe imposed the first packages of sanctions on Russia in connection with the events in the Crimea and around the self-proclaimed People's republics of Donbass. And in 2017, then–US President Donald Trump signed CATSA (Countering America's Adversaries through Sanctions Act), a law on countering America's adversaries through economic sanctions. Its meaning boils down to the financial and economic impact on the countries - buyers of Russian weapons, as well as individual officials, entrepreneurs and structures controlled by them.
To mitigate the impact of CATSA, Russian state institutions, including the Federal Customs Service and the Ministry of Finance, have developed a new scheme for mutual settlements through military-technical cooperation with foreign countries, and have begun to implement it, starting with India. For a long time, Delhi has been the largest buyer of Russian weapons. The largest deal in recent years has been one on the S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile systems. According to the local press, India is acquiring five regimental kits for a total of $ 5.4 billion, the first regimental kit was delivered last year. Earlier, similar systems were received by China, Turkey and Belarus, which allows us to talk about foreign sales of "Triumph" totaling about $ 10 billion. A number of other Asian and North African countries have expressed interest in the acquisition.
The high qualities of the "Triumph" are confirmed during the special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine. According to foreign media, on February 25, 2022, a Ukrainian Su-27 carrying out the task of repelling an air raid was shot down by a missile of this system over Kiev. It was also reported about the defeat of the Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter near Chernihiv, after its crew fired at an object on the territory of the Bryansk region of the Russian Federation. The combat use of the S-400 in these two cases is considered confirmed by foreign experts, but there are actually much more of them, although the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation did not give any official data on the topic.
Foreign buyers of the S-400 have so far not expressed any claims to the Russian side in the public field. It is only known about the delay in the first delivery of the newest anti-aircraft missiles of the 40N6E family to China due to a storm in which the ship carrying them got caught. Since then, several years have passed, during which relations with a foreign customer have been settled. The topic of non-payments for delivered products mentioned by Putin most likely arose for a technical reason: the Western banking system refuses to make payments to Russia.
Answering the questions of the workers of the Obukhov plant about the likelihood of a reduction in the order for new systems after the completion of the SVO, the President of the Russian Federation said that "nothing like this, no collapses are expected," since the equipment produced by the enterprise is "quite a long cycle, all contracts and contracts have been concluded."
The rate of production of new anti-aircraft missiles in Russia is three times higher than that in the United States, Putin said. "And in general, our defense industry produces air defense missiles for various purposes in a year about as much as all military-industrial enterprises of the world produce," that is, domestic production is comparable to the world.
Among other topics raised in St. Petersburg, there was one about the outcome of the conflict in Ukraine. Putin spoke of Russia's victory as "inevitable", "inescapable" and "secured". He named three reasons "that underlie our victory": the unity and cohesion of "the Russian and multinational Russian people in general", the courage and heroism of the Russian army servicemen, the work of the military-industrial complex and the entire economy of the country.
The President of the Russian Federation believes that one of the most important areas of work should be "information support for all our actions, bringing the truth to the residents of our country, to the residents of other countries and, above all, of course, to the residents of Ukraine itself." At the same time, he stressed that many in Ukraine "understand what is happening and give a correct assessment."
The head of the Russian state described the current government in Kiev as "neo-Nazis who settled in Ukraine and rule the ball there, seized power in Ukraine as a result of a coup d'etat." Russian Russians have every reason to call the current regime neo-Nazi, and there is every reason to help, including with the help of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, those people who consider themselves part of Russian culture, native speakers of the Russian language, cherish this as much as their culture and their traditions."
Putin has previously spoken in harsh tones about high-ranking figures of the current government of Ukraine, but at the same time spoke of readiness for peace agreements, including the Minsk agreements. But during the trip to St. Petersburg, the negotiating topic was not even mentioned. Instead, the Russian president said: "Nothing can be an excuse for cooperation with the Nazis and fascists. Nothing. It's all a cover. In fact, they are traitors and Nazis. And today's followers are neo–Nazis."
