Ilya Klebanov says: A greater part of the debts to the military-industrial complex will be paid by the Russian power government departments this year

A greater part of the debts to the military-industrial complex will be paid by the Russian power government departments this year, while the payment of rest of the debts will be put off for next year. Minister of Science, Industry and Technologies Ilya Klebanov spoke about it at the meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

At this meeting they discussed the main parameters of the draft budget for 2003 and the possibilities for implementing the programme for armaments and the main trends in the development of science and restructuring the military-industrial complex.

The President was interested in the details of how the wage arrears were paid to the enterprises of the military-industrial complex and how the money, allocated to the development of the main trends in science, in particular of natural sciences, was being distributed. He underscored the need for the industries and the government as a whole to contact more often with scientists and to coordinate with them the programme of action.

Speaking about the restructuring the military-industrial complex, Vladimir Putin underscored the necessity of a more active work for increasing the competitiveness of Russian goods on the markets and maintaining the armed forces of the country on the up-to-date level.