NOVO-OGARYOVO, September 08. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to prime minister’s proposal to eliminate two state defense and arms procurement bodies and redistribute their functions among other state agencies and ministries.

The two state bodies proposed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to be liquidated are the Federal Service for Defense Contracts (Rosoboronzakaz) and the Federal Agency for Weaponry, Military and Special Equipment and Material Facilities Procurement (Rosoboronpostavka).

Medvedev said that the functions of the two agencies at the issue would be redistributed between the Industry and Trade Ministry, the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the Audit Chamber.

According to the official website of Rosoboronzakaz, the service functioned as “the federal body of executive authority exercising control and supervision of task placement and execution in the field of state defense contracts, as well as work licensing in the field of defense industry.”

Rosoboronpostavka said on its website that the “key agency objectives are both optimization of weaponry, military and special equipment and material facilities procurement for the Ministry of Defense and other national security, defense and law enforcement agencies of Russia, and following common price policy in state defense order realization.”

Earlier in the day the Kremlin press service reported that Putin also signed a decree liquidating the Russian Regional Development Ministry.

Medvedev told Putin that the functions of the ministry, set up in September of 2004, would be distributed between the Economic Development Ministry, the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities and Culture Ministry.