 "Ukraine war defence contracts push Russian manufacturers to breaking point")
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been escalating and opened a potential goldmine for Vladimir Arsenyev. As Russian tanks rumbled through Ukraine in 2022, as his business was awash with defence orders.
But the orders he landed turned out to be a poisoned chalice, he recounted in a series of interviews with Reuters, the first time he has spoken publicly about his struggles. He had to ramp up production at breakneck speed and deliver to tight deadlines at prices set by the Russian defence ministry.
The 75-year-old scientist heads a Moscow firm that makes components for a communications device used by tank crews.
Failure was no option. Invoking the spectre of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, Russia’s government has threatened defence manufacturers with jail time if they don’t meet contractual obligations.
Sergei Mosiyenko, a minority shareholder, said he could see the company was going to miss deadlines, so he blew the whistle. “The defence ministry is the customer,” he told Reuters. “They are always right.”
Speaking to Reuters from the hospital, Arsenyev disputed that the contracts were in trouble, saying people who were trying to undermine him had sent unfounded complaints to the authorities.
“How is it that a company that is getting growing orders and fulfils those orders is dying?” he asked. “That probably means there’s a problem.”
The Kremlin and Russia’s defence ministry did not respond to detailed questions about Arsenyev’s case or their handling of defence contracts more broadly.
Quick Reads
View AllAt least 34 people have faced criminal charges for disrupting state defence orders since the start of the Ukraine war, according to documents posted on the Moscow courts of general jurisdiction website. They include at least 11 company bosses and two senior executives.
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