Delays in fulfillment of govt defense orders inadmissible, disruption of contracts to be punished with sanctions - Putin
MOSCOW. Dec 22 (Interfax) - A delay in the fulfillment of the state armament program may lead to a failure in the industrial process, which will be hard to cope with, so any disruption of governmental defense contracts should be punished with maximal sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"It is important to keep pace in the rearming of the Army and the Navy and to efficiently control the implementation of the state armament program and federal defense contracts," Putin said at an expanded meeting of the Russian Defense Ministry's board on Thursday.
"We should realize that five years are not a very long period for such an extensive rearmament program and that any delay in the accomplishment of assignments may lead to a failure in the industrial process, which will be hard to restore in the future," the president said.
"Sanctions for the disruption of contracts should be maximally strict, and it is important to rapidly establish reasons for violations and to eradicate them in a timely way," Putin said.
Measures have been taken at all levels to resolve problems in the fulfillment of governmental defense orders, the president said.
"We should be constantly controlling the fulfillment of the state armament program and the situation in the defense sector," Putin said.