MOSCOW. Jan 20 (Interfax) - The Russian Defense Ministry has started to build the National Defense Center. The construction works will end this year, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Monday.
The minister attended the ceremony of laying a cornerstone of the prospective National Defense Center in Moscow.
"Consistent with a decree of the Russian president, we are here today to start the construction of the National Defense Center of Russia. This is an important undertaking, an important venture, and we must undoubtedly fulfill every provision of the president's decree in 2014 and ensure the construction of the National Defense Center," he said.
"Indeed, a lot will depend on the builders and the designers of this facility unique in its kind," he said.
"We [the Defense Ministry] will be the first to lay down the foundation of national defense for the next 20-25 years," Shoigu said. The minister said he wished the newest technologies and equipment be used in the construction of the center.
"Certainly, we will do the utmost to employ the best personnel trained by every requirement to modern control of national defense," Shoigu promised.
The minister placed a symbolic stone on the premises of the Defense Ministry's compound in Moscow to mark the beginning construction of the National Defense Center.
A defense industry representative told Interfax-AVN earlier that the cost of the National Defense Center comprising three command posts and a heliport on the Moskva River will near 40 billion rubles.
The complex will house the Supreme Command Center, the Combat Control Center supervising the nuclear deterrence forces amongst others, and the Center for Control over Daily Operations of the Armed Forces.
The center's heliport will operate 24/7.