Russia's defence sector hit by financial crisis: govt official

MILPLEX

Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov.

by Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) Nov 11, 2008
Russia's defence industry has been badly hit by the global financial crisis, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, a former defence minister, said Tuesday.

"Many businesses in the defence industry are experiencing a serious shortage of working capital needed to ensure production and to deliver products to clients," Interfax news agency quoted Ivanov as saying at a meeting with defence officials.

"The global financial problems are already hitting some businesses badly. This could be a very painful situation for the industry," he added.

Ivanov said that in order to reverse the trend, the government would ask state-controlled banks - Sberbank, VTB and Vneshekonombank - to grant sector producers credit.

The companies could use the loans to "pay employees' wages", said Ivanov.

But former senior defence ministry official Leonid Ivashov told Moscow's Echo radio station that Ivanov's statement was an "attempt to justify" the fact that Russia's weapons industry had been in decline since the fall of the Soviet Union.

"The military industry has been crumbling for the past 15 years," Ivashov, who is a defence expert and president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, said.

Ivashov also denounced the lack of specialists and technology in Russia's arms market.

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MILPLEX

EU nations launch air transport fleet initiative

Brussels (AFP) Nov 10, 2008
Twelve European Union nations launched Monday a project to build an EU military air transport fleet to help meet a growing need for planes to carry troops and equipment to the world's trouble spots.

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