VLADIMIR. May 12 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Friday that the volume of the state defense order will grow.
"The state defense order has been growing 25 to 30 percent annually over the past few years, and it will continue to grow," Ivanov told reporters after meeting with Vladimir Region Governor Nikolai Vinogradov.
The main goal of army funding is to bring expenses on equipping the army with up-to-date armaments to 50 percent of the total funding, he said. Now the share of these expenses is 40 percent, and five years ago it was as low as 30 percent.
The state defense order placed with Vladimir region enterprises in 2006 amounts to 3.1 billion rubles ($115.23 million), and the enterprises have already received 1.2 billion ($44.6 million) this year, Ivanov noted.
"Funding is provided regularly, and the Defense Ministry's debts to the enterprises have nearly been paid off. There is still a debt of 15 million rubles ($557.54 million) from past years," the minister said.