Putin criticized the head of the USC for unprofitable contracts; he “sprinkled ashes on his head”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting on the development of the shipbuilding industry, complained to the General Director of the United Shipbuilding Corporation Alexei Rakhmanov in connection with the conclusion of unprofitable contracts by the company. The President asked the head of USC why they had accumulated so many unprofitable contracts.

“This problem concerns head orders, when we start construction, practically without having a complete specification to the end, and understanding what the ship or vessel will consist of,” Mr. Rakhmanov replied (quoted by RIA Novosti).

He also said that they work with the Ministry of Defense at indicative prices, and when working with Rosmorport or USC private owners, without a project, they cannot “be motivated to state what the price will be.”

“Since we are trying to be customer-oriented, in this sense we have gone too far towards customers in order to build, rent ships, and after that deal with money,” continued the head of the corporation.

Mr. Rakhmanov noted that this approach may be wrong. “I sprinkle ashes on my head, but it always seemed to me that first the Motherland, and then our finances,” he concluded.

“Aleksey Lvovich, you said that first the Motherland, and then finances. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the interests of the Motherland are directly related to financial discipline, and vice versa – the violation of financial discipline does not correspond to the interests of the Motherland. I draw your attention to this,” the President replied.

Vladimir Putin stressed the importance of paying attention to the interests of customers. “But this does not mean that you need to do everything humpty-dumpty, start construction, finish, and then deal with finances, adjusting one to another,” the president said.

At the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov told the president that the government would conduct a financial audit of USC’s accumulated debt.

Alexey Rakhmanov has been the General Director of JSC United Shipbuilding Corporation since 2014. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, in 2008-2012 he worked as the director of the department of the automotive industry and agricultural engineering of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia.

Julia Abugalieva