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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues.

Yesterday we marked Gunsmith Day, and I would like to extend my wholehearted greetings to you and all personnel of the national defence industry on their professional day and to thank them for their diligent work and commitment to the responsible and very important cause to which they have devoted their lives, to serving Russia and our people.

Thanks to the talents and energy of our designers, engineers and workers and their dedication to the tasks facing them, our defence industry is making a huge contribution to strengthening national security and to upgrading and enhancing the combat capability of the army and navy. At the same time, it has always held a solid position on the global arms markets. Over the first six months of this year, our industry has supplied products worth over $6 billion to our foreign partners despite the circumstances everyone is well aware of. High-tech civilian products, which enjoy demand in Russia and abroad, are being manufactured in increasing quantities.

Once again, I congratulate all Russian weapons-makers on their professional day and wish you good health and new successes.

Colleagues,

Given the circumstances, challenges, and threats that our country is facing, the defence companies are operating intensively, and their employees are acting quickly to address unconventional challenges, to rearrange production processes and to improve quality based on actual combat experience. Your representatives go to the front lines – I want to note this and thank them for this. This transcends professional responsibility and is, to a certain extent, heroism, which is making a vast contribution to improving the military equipment that is being used in the combat operations.

Therefore, during our meeting, I propose focusing on the specific and most pressing organisational, financial and technical issues. Of course, we will start by discussing the supplies of weapons, equipment and ammunition to the forces, primarily the units and subunits in the special military operation.

I will note at the outset that the Russian weapons used in the operation have proven highly effective. This primarily concerns aviation, high-precision long-range missiles, aviation weapons, rocket and artillery, and armoured vehicle arsenal, to name a few. They are used to destroy military infrastructure, command posts, and enemy materiel, and to attack nationalist units, while minimising losses among personnel.

I would also like to point out the fact that our equipment is performing well in the standoff with Western weapons. You know that virtually all stocks from NATO arsenals were thrown in to support the Kiev regime. This means that we must and can study these arsenals – that is, the equipment that is being used against us – and break new ground in building up our capabilities, and, based on our experience, improve, where necessary, our equipment and our weapons. This is a natural process which we must use by all means and do so as quickly and efficiently as possible.

I would like to remind you in this context that this year I have resolved to deliver additional weapons and equipment to the armed forces and, consequently, to allocate funds for acquisition and maintenance. Production capacities must be increased and, if necessary, modernised at several defence enterprises. Much has been done to attain this goal.

For example, the following decisions were taken to ensure the uninterrupted production and repair of weapons and equipment: contract and pre-contract procedures have been simplified considerably, the timeframe for signing state contracts with a sole provider and the relevant pricing procedure have been reduced, and the amount of prepayment has been increased.

I would like to note that Promsvyazbank has reaffirmed the terms for low-interest loans for the pre-schedule delivery of weapons. In addition, labour laws have been amended to allow the heads of defence enterprises and design bureaus to authorise overtime pay for designers, engineers and workers.

Measures have been taken in connection with manufacturing optimisation. I will not list them now because all of you are well aware of them. This has been done on your recommendation.

Defence industry organisations must ensure the provision of the necessary weapons, equipment and munitions to the armed forces as soon as possible.

We must also ensure the timely and full provision of modern Russian-made components, parts, units and materials to defence industry companies. The defence industry is the sphere where all import substitution programmes must be implemented without fail. This may not be so important or even necessary in other areas, because we do not need one hundred percent import substitution. But we must do it in this area. Therefore, production capacities must be increased without delay, equipment must be used to the fullest, technological cycles must be streamlined, and production deadlines must be reduced without hurting quality.

I would like to ask the heads of defence industry enterprises to report on the measures they are taking to satisfy the Defence Ministry’s requirements. Of course, I also expect you to make practical proposals, as you did at our previous meetings on the development of the defence industry as a whole.

Thank you. Let us start working.