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New requirements to military science set out in Putin’s article

He believes the present state of things in the Defense Ministry is far from excellent

MOSCOW, February 20 (Itar-Tass) —— Every word in the article [by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta] is about new requirements to military science and the defense industry, holds Komoyedov, the head of the State Duma Defense Committee.

“Systemic change of practically entire economy of the country is in order,” he said, commenting on the Russian prime minister’s article published on Monday.

“It is, perhaps, the first time that the theme of creating arms based on new physical principles is stated directly,” Komoyedov noted.

He believes the present state of things in the Defense Ministry is far from excellent. He expressed the hope that coordinated work of the committee, the military-industrial commission headed by Deputy Premier Dmitry Rogozin “will yield results, also in fighting corruption.”

Komoyedov, at the same time, does not agree that “there is no clear concept of the national reserve of the Armed Forces.” He pointed out that the concept of creating a new system of training and accumulating mobilization resource was endorsed by the President of the Russian Federation in May 2007. The essence of the proposed changes is that mobilization resource is created in the reserves of the Armed Forces, of the Foreign Counterintelligence Service and the Federal Security Service,” said the MP. “Citizens will be put on the reserve force on a voluntary basis and will draw the pay,” he said. “This is quite a complicate law but it has already passed the first reading and, according to the committee’s plan, will be referred to the Federation Council for endorsement before the end of the spring session,” Komoyedov said.

The article in Rossiiskaya Gazeta on defense questions can serves “as a guide for action to all patriotically-minded politicians, and those who are not patriotic have no place in politics,” he said.

Viktor Zavarzin of United Russia, the first deputy head of the committee, subscribes to the premier’s opinion that “the army we inherited from the USSR exhausted its technical and strategic potentials.” “To preserve defense potential we must be able to oppose a potential enemy on land and on the high seas, and also in the outer space and in information competition,” he noted.