Putin Prepares Plan for Putting Civilian Economy on War Footing Following Defense Exercises in Belarus
Vesti live, we’re on the air. All large strategic companies in Russia regardless of their form of incorporation should be ready to increase their defense production output at anytime if required.
This was stated today by Putin in Sochi where he held a third executive meeting with representatives of the Defense Ministry and the military industry. The results of the maneuvers "Zapad-2017" that took place in late September were discussed.
Dmitriy Petrov elaborates on the discussion's conclusions.
The president dedicated the third day of the meetings on the defense agenda to a discussion of the results of the strategic joint maneuvers "West-2017". They took place in September on the territory of several regions, and today the respective governors, as well as heads of some ministries, joined the discussion. Nine test ranges were used in Russia and Belorussia. The concept of the maneuvers is in case of an extremist invasion of Kaliningrad and Belarus. The aggressor encounters organized resistance. The Russian military successfully tested the armored fighting vehicle "Terminator" and the tank T90S1. 20 ships of the Baltic Fleet created a blockade of the territory from the sea. Units and squads from regional troops were redeployed to the place of invasion to isolate the enemy. Civil services had an important role to play here.
Putin: A number of essential tasks were successfully met in the course of the maneuvers. First, the mobilization capacity and the ability to fulfill the army's needs on the local level were checked. The military reserve — regular citizens — were summoned to military training. The scenario of transferring to the military transport vehicles, as well as equipment from civil manufacturers was practiced, and also the technical covering of transport routes.
Certain soft spots were revealed, such as the supply of provisions and medicaments, and a rapid increase of defense production in case of military escalation. These weaknesses should be eliminated, according to the president.
Putin: They should be carefully studied and additional measures to increase the mobilization capacity should be taken. I'd like to point out that the ability of the economy to rapidly increase the defense production output when necessary is one of the most important pillars in ensuring the strategic safety of the country. Any strategic and large company should be ready to do that regardless of the form of incorporation.
The goal is to upgrade the manufacturing facilities and create a reserve of material and technical resources, a kind of inviolable reserve.
Dmitriy Petrov, Oleg Makarov, Kirill Aksyonov, Vesti, Sochi