MOSCOW, August 4. /TASS/. Russia’s defense industry enterprises fulfilled last year’s defense procurement order and foreign contracts in full, despite coronavirus-related lockdowns, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, published on Wednesday.
"As a result of necessary decisions, made by the president of Russia back then [in 2020], the defense procurement order and the country’s defense cooperation obligations were fulfilled completely," Shoigu said.
In his words, the majority of Russia’s defense enterprises de-facto halted production after the president of Russia announced a non-working period in March 2020 in a bid to curb the novel coronavirus infection. The list of those companies includes the Sevmash and Zvezdochka shipyards, the Kalashnikov Concern small arms manufacturer, the Kamaz truck maker, the Ulan-Ude aviation plant and many others.
"Almost two million workers and engineers all over the country were not working. Deliveries of weapons and military equipment under the state defense procurement order worth almost 1.5 trillion rubles and export deliveries to our foreign partners worth an equal sum were under the threat of disruption," Shoigu added.
The minister went on to say that after he reported to the Russian president about the issue, a meeting of officials from the Russian Defense Ministry and the Industry and Trade Ministry, as well as heads of Russian defense enterprises, was convoked.
"During the meeting, the president made measured and timely decisions about resuming production of weapons and military equipment for the Russian armed forces and foreign partners in a safe environment. Under the round-the-clock control of the National Defense Management Center, the necessary pace of production was restored at all defense enterprises," Shoigu said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its radiation, chemical and biological protection troops carried out sanitary and disinfection efforts at production sites.
"Starting from April 10, 2020, we are assisting disinfection at defense industry enterprises. By now, our units of radiation, chemical and biological protection have carried out over 700 operations to sanitize 93 production facilities. As a result of this effort, over 3,500 workshops and production buildings with a total area of over 2 million square meters have been sanitized," he said.