Official website of the President of Russia

Transcripts   /

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues,

Last week – on October 25 – we held the first working meeting and mapped out the main tasks and priorities of the Government Coordination Council. We agreed to meet regularly in order to promptly resolve the arising issues on the functioning of individual economic sectors, primarily the defence industry complex in this case, to support our Armed Forces, military units and formations taking part in the special military operation.

I know that the Government and the State Council have already established the necessary organisational mechanisms for arranging daily work and for close coordination with key economic sectors, as I said, industrial and transport companies, with our regions, the Defence Ministry and other security, defence and law enforcement agencies.

I would like to emphasise that all this work should be built not on some bureaucratic norms and instructions. Of course, they exist and are there for a reason. Yet, in the current environment, we must switch to a new operational mode, as I said during our previous meeting. We must organise this work in a way so that nothing prevents us from achieving the concrete results we need. This must be a system-wide effort.

For example, for every item of gear or equipment, we must listen to those who use them and understand how these items perform and whether they are fit for their intended purpose. I am referring to the equipment, medical first aid kits or any other things that may even seem unimportant at first sight. The same applies to weapons, which need constant and uninterrupted upgrades and improvements to remain effective.

For this, as I said, it is essential that we promote competition among manufacturers and developers.

Competition matters in general for the effective functioning of the economy but in this case, it is particularly important.

All activities of the Coordination Council must be as flexible as possible and be aimed at a very specific result. This is exactly why this instrument, this mechanism was created.

Today, we will listen to the heads of working groups on several areas. Mr Manturov will tell us about material and technical support, and then I will ask our colleagues to have their say on all the areas of our joint work that I mentioned.

But of course, first, I would like to ask Mr Mishustin to deliver his report and tell us about the course of the work as a whole.

Go ahead, please.

<…>