TULA, February 2. /TASS/. The national defense industry has created more than 520,000 new jobs over the last eighteen months, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"520,000 new jobs - over half a million jobs were created in the defense sector over the last year and a half alone," the head of state said.

People taking these positions are working very intensively, "in two, and on certain sites in three shifts," he stressed.

All the defense industry companies are associated with high-technology manufacturing, Putin noted. "The defense industry requires a high qualification level from engineering personnel and from blue-collar personnel, because this is almost completely the high-technology production," he added.