MOSCOW. Oct 16 (Interfax-AVN) - The draft budget 2004 stipulates a large increase in defense spending, gennady Seleznyov, the State Duma Speaker, told reporters in Moscow on Thursday.
"The defense budget in the next year will strongly rise," he said.
In his opinion, first of all the additional money should be spent on paying off debts to the defense industry.
"Old defense order debts should be paid off. The debt should be zeroed," Seleznyov said. "There are ten-year debts," he added. He said that some enterprises go bankrupt because of state debts.
He also said that the recent national security council discussed restructuring of the debt. He emphasized that strong changes in the current legislation are needed to make the new integrated defense industry bodies act more effectively.
According to Seleznyov, this country should use the Chinese experience in funding research and defense industry.