Reality Check: Russian Defense Minister says...., page 1

MOSCOW, December 30 (RIA Novosti) - On December 30 the Government of Russia is to discuss the draft 2005 state defense order at its last session this year.

The draft 2005 state defense order, which contains many secret provisions, will be discussed behind closed doors, a Cabinet source told RIA Novosti here today. In his words, the Government has always opted for such tactics, while discussing the state defense order.

All other issues will be discussed openly, RIA Novosti's interlocutor added.

The draft state defense order has already been discussed beforehand at a recent session of the commission for military-technical issues under the supervision of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov.

Previously, Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov talked to correspondents, saying he was positive that the new state arms-procurement program for the 2005 period will be okayed during the Government's final session this year.

For his own part, Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref told reporters last week that some provisions of the 2005 program will be revised, stipulating additional appropriations. Gref made this revelation last week, after visiting the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia's Arkhangelsk region. Among other things, this will concern the development of the Strategic Missile Forces and the Plesetsk space center itself, Gref went on to say.

The Defense Ministry eventually gets several times more money than it requests, Gref noted. As I see it, we will manage to coordinate this issue, finding a way out of this situation and obtaining ample interaction opportunities, the Minister added.

Indeed, present-day appropriations are something inadequate; and we will revise such appropriations for the 2005 period, Gref went on to say.

Defense Ministry officials believe that additional funds can be used to buy three more mobile versions of the Topol-M ICBM (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile) complex.

Additional appropriations can be spent on the purchase of three mobile Topol-M ICBM complexes, due to be procured next year, a Defense Ministry source informed RIA Novosti. The Strategic Missile Forces would receive a Topol-M battalion comprising three launchers over the 2006 period, in case we obtain additional monies, the agency's interlocutor added. That battalion would become part and parcel of the Teikovskaya ICBM division, which is deployed in the Vladimir region (Central Russia).

Plans are in place to provide the Russian Armed Forces with four silo-based Topol-M ICBM complexes, 11 revamped Sukhoi Su-27SM fighters, 80 BTR-90 armored personnel carriers (APCs), two nuclear-powered submarines (an Mk 955 Borei-class submarine and one Mk 941 Dmitry Donskoi-class submarine), two Iskander shorter-range missile complexes, 91 {30 as in text- mistake} T-90 main battle tanks, as well as about 3,000 motor vehicles, throughout the entire 2005 period.

Article 2

Most defense industry state orders in 2004 for new weapons - defense
minister OMSK. Jan 15 (Interfax) - Most of the 148 billion rubles allocated for state defense orders in 2004 will be used for creating new weapons and military equipment, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told a news conference in Omsk on Thursday. "If we are talking about the re-equipment of the army, we will sooner or later have to give up good, high-quality Soviet weapons and begin making enough modern high-precision weapons, new space systems, missile systems, communication equipment, and precision weapons for ground troops, although there will not be as many as we made in the Soviet Union," Ivanov said. The Russian government has already approved a 148 billion rubles budget for state defense orders in 2004, he said. "The state expenditures on defense has been increasing since 2000. Their percentage in the GDP does not exceed 3%, it is somewhere around 2.6%," Ivanov said. The funding allocated for state orders is a separate item in the budget, he said. "The funding for state defense orders, which amounts to 148 billion rubles, is much higher than it was in 2003," Ivanov said.

[..]

"The priorities of the draft 2004 budget are in favor of security structures, to the detriment of the social sphere." He reported that spending on national defense in 2004 will be increased from 345 billion rubles to 412 billion rubles. The share of "security" items in the budget will increase from 25% to 27.2%. Zadornov told us about the consequences this sort of budget policy will have.

Question: Which items in the military budget have actually increased?

Mikhail Zadornov: It is too early to discuss military spending in detail now, since later we'll get the statement of the secret part of the budget that determines defense spending in more detail. Then we'll be able to talk about the structure of the defense budget. And now we can handle only general figures.

Mikhail Zadornov: Which items have suffered most of all because of the shift of the draft budget in favor of defense?

Mikhail Zadornov: First of all, it is the social sector in general that has suffered. Spending on this sector has been reduced by five billion rubles compared to the government's plans in July. Besides, the draft budget proposes less spending than the 2003 budget on such items as investment, industry in general, development of rural areas, transportation, telecommunications, support of media, the military reforms, and destruction of weapons, although some corrections are still possible until August 25.

Question: How will it affect the situation in the country if the security slant remains in the budget?

Mikhail Zadornov: There will be no serious outcomes within one year.

otal military aquisitions 2005: $4 bln
------------------------------------------------------
Navy: $786 mln
AF: $786 mln
GRU, medicine, support: $714 mln
RVSN: $ 1,714 bln

Science: $2,249 bln
Repair: $ 421 mln

Equipment:
------------------
40 T-90
90 BTR-80
24 BMP-3
2 Tu-160,
20+ Su-27SM
12+ Mi-28N (300 hls total order, 50+ till 2010 year)
6 S-400
7 SS-27
5 space launchers
2 SSBN 955 Borei

I think this defence order is not complete. So it is just White Papers for public.

Arms sales in 2004 according to Rosoboronexport: $ 5,7 bln

Oh well.