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Russia defense must reduce dependence on foreign technologies: deputy PM

05 April 2014 01:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Russia must revise the work of its military-industrial complex to scale back dependence on foreign technologies, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Friday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"Currently we are seeking practical measures but I think it would be better to first count on our own technologies and produce that is really necessary and beneficial for our defense industry," said Rogozin, who oversees the defense industry, during a meeting in the southern Siberian city of Novosibirsk.

Taking into account international situation and Western sanctions, Russian defense industry should be transferred to " mobilization tracks," he said, adding that Russia needs to replace direct purchase of equipment by localizing its production and creating its own software for industrial machinery.

He admitted that Russian space industry relied heavily on imported spare parts and equipment, saying that the dependence reached 90 percent "despite 100-fold increase of financing of the national space industry in the recent 10 years."

If foreign supplies of that equipment stop, Russian space programs, including those military-purposed, will be under threat, Rogozin said.

In particular, he mentioned recent threats of Ukraine to cancel cooperation with Russia in military-industrial and space sectors.

If Kiev cancels contracts with Russia in military-industrial sphere, it will ruin Ukrainian industry, as "their supplies (to Russia) of engines, aviation, space industry's production creates tens of thousands jobs," he said.

This is their only source of revenue currently, he added.

Meanwhile, if Ukraine cancels these supplies, it would create " big problems" for Russia to continue cooperation with Kiev. "When it comes to defense issues, we can't depend on the country which is in a constantly changing situation and doesn't know what it wants," Rogozin said.