According to the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, on April 4, 2023, a thematic conference call with the leadership of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was held at the National Defense Management Center of the Russian Federation under the leadership of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Army General Sergei Shoigu.
(c) The Ministry of Defense of the Russian FederationOpening the meeting, the Minister of Defense informed the participants about the progress of the special military operation.
"The Russian Armed Forces continue to liberate the territory of Donbass. Fighting is systematically developing in the areas of Artemovsk, Avdiivka, on the Limansk and Kupyansk directions. We are delivering precision strikes on Ukrainian military facilities," Sergei Shoigu said.
As a result of the strikes, the production of a number of weapons samples was disrupted, as well as the supply of ammunition and fuel to AFU groups.
"We are purposefully destroying weapons and military equipment sent by the West both in combat positions and at the stage of transportation," the Russian Defense Minister said. "Since the beginning of this year alone, 59 M-777 artillery systems, 13 Paladin self-propelled artillery units, 14 American-made HIMARS launchers, as well as 30 self-propelled artillery units from Poland, Germany, France and the Czech Republic have been hit."
At the same time, the North Atlantic Bloc is strengthening its anti-Russian course, which leads to an escalation of the conflict, the head of the Russian military department noted.
"The United States and its allies are increasing military assistance to Ukraine. It is stated that this year alone they are ready to supply over 200 Western-made tanks, more than 400 modern armored combat vehicles. The Ukrainian army is being equipped with long-range weapons of destruction, including rockets with an increased range of up to 150 km. The possibility of transferring operational and tactical ATACMS missiles with a launch range of up to 300 km and tactical F-16 fighters to Kiev is being considered," Army General Sergei Shoigu added.
In addition, NATO is carrying out a set of measures to increase the combat readiness of the Joint Armed Forces, intensifying combat training and intelligence activities near the borders of Russia and Belarus.
Finland will become a member of the alliance in the near future.
"Of course, all this creates risks of a significant expansion of the conflict, but it will not affect the outcome of the special operation. Under these conditions, we are taking retaliatory measures, defending the security of the Union State," the Russian Defense Minister said.
Thus, some of the Belarusian attack aircraft have gained the ability to strike enemy targets with nuclear weapons.
In addition, the Iskander-M tactical missile system has been transferred to the Armed Forces of Belarus. It can use missiles in both conventional and nuclear versions. Since April 3, training of Belarusian calculations on the procedure of its application for the protection of the Union State has begun at one of the Russian training grounds.
The Russian Armed Forces will continue to carry out the tasks of a special military operation.
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Further, the head of the military department spoke about the course of the spring conscription campaign, which started on April 1.
In his speech, Sergei Shoigu stressed that the draft campaign is taking place as planned - within the time limits established by Russian legislation.
"The initial registration of citizens for military registration, which has been carried out since January 1 of this year, has been completed. More than 700 thousand people arrived at the military enlistment offices, to be precise - 706230 people," the Russian Defense Minister informed.
He also noted that this year, for the first time, information about conscripts is received electronically. This accelerated the exchange of information between the commissariats and the executive authorities, made it possible to promptly update electronic databases and ensure high efficiency of conscription of citizens for military service. It was also possible to reduce the manifestations of bureaucracy and red tape, to abandon unnecessary procedures.
Conscription in the country is provided by more than 2.7 thousand draft commissions. In accordance with the Presidential Decree, 147 thousand people will be sent to the troops.
Military teams are formed to be sent to the duty station in an automated mode, which minimizes the time spent by young recruits at assembly points.
Information about recruits is sent to military units in electronic form, so that they are promptly enrolled in the lists and become eligible for all types of allowances.
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Turning to the thematic agenda of the meeting, the head of the military department proposed to discuss the implementation of state tasks by enterprises of the United Aircraft Corporation in the interests of the Ministry of Defense.
According to Sergei Shoigu, 200 contracts have been signed with the organizations of these companies for the construction, modernization and maintenance of aircraft equipment. At the same time, there are accounts receivable for a number of them. At the beginning of the year, the repayment schedule was approved.
At the end of the meeting, the issue of implementing the instructions of the President and the Government of the Russian Federation related to the transport support of the Armed Forces was considered.