MOSCOW, August 5 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu noted serious flaws in repairs and maintenance of Russian Navy’s warships and vessels.

“The repairs and maintenance deadlines set in state contracts are frequently broken,” Shoigu said at a telecom conference held at the situation room of the Russian Defense Ministry on Monday. “Most naval ships placed in the dock for repairs are staying at the shipyards for 4-5 years instead of two,” the Defense Minister said.

“A major part of ships have to be operated at more extended intervals between regular maintenance services, and, moreover, many warships and vessels have numerous restrictions for use of weapons and military hardware,” the minister said.

“The works under the state defense contract for 2011-2012 were not finished yet,” Shoigu noted.

He noted among the reasons for this situation technological sluggishness of the enterprises, low level of working organizational procedure and insufficient cooperation between head and relevant enterprises for state defense contract fulfillment. In his words, the mistakes in the setting of prices were made, the directorate of the plants lacks proper control over the contracts conclusion, and plants do not make advanced payments to the bidders for contracts in time.

“This situation is impermissible and the current ship repairs and maintenance system needs serious changes,” Shoigu noted.

“The repairs and maintenance of warships and vessels is an important detail of technical support for the combat readiness of Russian naval forces. These issues are being considered at the level of the Defense Ministry not for the first time,” the minister added.

“The fulfillment of measures scheduled for this year will allow keeping the Russian Navy in required combat readiness state,” Shoigu noted. “The state defense order envisaged 54 billion rubles for repairs and maintenance of warships and vessels of the Russian Navy in 2011-2012,” he said.

“754 ships were maintained in 2011, 762 ships - in 2012,” the minister said. This year the amount of these works will be increased by a fourth. “899 warships and vessels are planned to undergo maintenance in 2013,” Shoigu noted.

The top brass of the Defense Ministry, military districts, the formations of Russia’s Armed Forces and the leadership of the United Shipbuilding Corporation were participating in the telecom conference.