Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Russian volunteers and startups are said to be unable to contribute effectively to military procurement because of extreme levels of bureaucracy in the Ministry of Defence, and a system which has effectively been captured and monopolised by major defence manufacturers. ⬇️

2/ The private Russian Telegram channel 'No Pasaran' has published an interesting commentary on why Russia's 'people's military-industrial complex' has been ineffective, especially compared to its Ukrainian equivalent, which has been so instrumental in drone production.

3/ "People are sincerely perplexed. Why can't the Ministry of Defence, which manages trillions of rubles, finance our handicraft production? Why do people themselves (at their own expense and through private donations) produce and supply the troops with the necessary equipment?

4/ "Let me explain. Why can't the Ministry of Defense buy the same machine gun mounts in Pervouralsk [a city in the Sverdlovsk region]? Because peacetime legislation is in effect. Pervouralsk will never receive a state defence order from the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

5/ "And Pervouralsk will never sign up for a state defence order. And it would be right to do so. And those guys who are now making machine gun boxes for us, and those who are making explosive reactive armour for tanks – they won't sign up either.

6/ "Although they make the same Relikt ERA for 19,000 rubles [$197], while the Research Institute of Steel foists it on the Ministry of Defence for 70,000 [$726].

7/ "I'll tell you how it works. In a nutshell.

You receive a state defence order, do the work. All with your own money. The state will transfer you the amount stipulated by the contract, after the state defence order is fulfilled, to a special budget account opened in your name.

8/ "However. In order to transfer the money to your bank account after the work is completed, you must endure a rigorous audit. There is a rather tedious legal procedure there. I have had such clients. We managed, of course, but we ate our fill of shit by the tablespoonful.

9/ "Furthermore, since the money is budgetary, you are also checked by the Accounts Chamber and law enforcement agencies in the hope of finding a reason to initiate a criminal case.

10/ "There were some cases [in which] criminal prosecutions were initiated allegedly due to overpricing – somewhere you bought metal more expensive than the average market price, but from a trusted supplier.

11/ "Somewhere mechanics were paid a salary one and a half times higher than the industry average. You can't explain to them that only clumsy people get paid on average in the industry, and highly qualified specialists have to be bought at a high price.

12/ "I had such clients too. They got real terms.

Further. For state defence orders, it is necessary to keep separate accounting records: that is, the accounting staff must be doubled. And the legal department too.

13/ "In short. You can play these games of chance with the state, but... only if your last name is Vrotenberg [a Russian oligarch linked to Putin], and you are a person close to the Emperor. And this means that all the players there are big shots. Sharks.

14/ "There is no room for innovation, private initiatives, no freedom for popular creativity and non-standard engineering and design solutions. They have the most solid and shitty feudalism there.

15/ "Laws and law enforcement practices in peacetime greatly harm the active army during war, unfortunately. IMHO, during war, you need to declare war, and not play at a "special military operation", ...

16/ ... and introduce new emergency temporary laws based solely on considerations of military expediency: everything for the front. Send wreckers and saboteurs to the tribunal."

Source:
t.me/philologist_zo…