Putin’s lapdog Medvedev Calls for Faster Rearmament

Putin's Lapdog & Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called for an increase in the pace of Russian rearmament on Monday during a visit to an arms-making plant.

"We need a different pace of rearmament, which is especially important considering the adoption of a unified system of pricing for weapons," Medvedev said.

The prime minister added that recent decisions by the government to seek procurement of complete defense systems instead of disparate parts is a key part of improving Russian rearmament. He cited the situation with Iskander missile systems, which until recently have been delivered by separate elements rather than in complete sets.

“So our decision on the need for these weapon systems to be delivered in complete sets is absolutely right.

Iskander M missile systems are superior to their foreign counterparts and should become the core of the Ground Forces missile units, Medvedev said.

“The Iskander M is without doubt one of the most effective systems in its class and, in our opinion, is ahead of foreign analogs,” he said.

The Russian government has allocated 24 billion rubles ($750 million) to 17 arms-manufacturing enterprises for series production of the KBM Iskander mobile tactical ballistic missile system, Medvedev said during a visit to the Kolomna Machine-Building Bureau (KBM) which makes Iskander.

"We have invested over 24 billion rubles in modernizing and building production capacity for series production of Iskander M missiles," Medvedev said.

The enterprises concerned will invest another 16 billion rubles of their own funds in the program, he said.

Iskander M, which is in production for the Russian armed forces, is a rapid response ballistic missile intended for precision strikes on high-value targets such as command posts, airfields, air-defense sites and opposing missile systems.

Russia has previously threatened to deploy Iskanders in the Kaliningrad exclave if NATO deploys anti-missile defense systems in Poland.

Putin’s Lapdog Medvedev to Discuss Iskander Missile Production Modernization

Lapdog Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will hold a meeting in Kolomna in the Moscow Region on Monday to discuss modernizing production facilities for Iskander tactical missile launchers, the government’s press office reported on Sunday.

The meeting will be held on the premises of the Kolomna Machine-Building Design Bureau and will also be attended by Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, heads of core ministries and departments and defense enterprises.

Russia is currently building and modernizing the production capacities of 17 core enterprises for the serial production and deliveries of Iskander-M tactical missile launchers. Total investments from the federal budget and the enterprises’ own funds are estimated at 40 billion rubles ($1.25 billion).

The Iskander-M system (NATO reporting name SS-26 Stone) is a mobile theater missile system equipped with two solid-propellant single-stage 9M723K1 guided missiles with "quasi-ballistic" capability.

The missiles have a range of 400 km (250 miles) and can reportedly carry conventional and nuclear warheads.

Moscow reiterated in late April it may deploy Iskander theater ballistic missiles in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad that will be capable of effectively engaging elements of the U.S. missile defense system in Poland.

The missile defense system in Poland does not jeopardize Russia’s nuclear forces, Army General Nikolai Makarov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, previously said.

“However, if it is modernized…it could affect our nuclear capability and in that case a political decision may be made to deploy Iskander systems in the Kaliningrad region,” he said.

“But that will be a political decision,” he stressed. “So far there is no such need.”

NATO members agreed to create a missile shield over Europe to protect it against ballistic missiles launched by so-called rogue states, for example Iran and North Korea, at a summit in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2010.

Russia has strongly criticized NATO’s reluctance to provide written, legally binding guarantees that its European missile shield will not be directed against Moscow.