Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly scolded the country’s deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov for not doing enough to speed up aircraft contracts.
Manturov, who is also Putin’s trade and industry minister, attempted to justify the delays, during Putin’s live video call with officials on Wednesday, according to The Guardian.
When Manturov explained to the president that his ministry was to build helicopter engines in St Petersburg, an agitated Putin said it was taking too long, adding that he was asking the minister to “expedite the work”.
At which point, Manturov promised Putin that he would release 175bn roubles to state airline Aeroflot for leasing civilian and military aircraft for 2023 through to 2025, according to the report.
Putin did not hear him out before interrupting to say that no contract were ready, adding that the directors informed him. Putin went on to ask “What are you, really, playing the fool?”
Putin asked the minister to do everything within a month, stressing that ‘everyone understands the urgency of these issues’.
Earlier during the live video call Putin asked the Ministry of Defence to work out contracts for helicopters, and 700 aircraft, also blaming that some enterprises still did not have an order for 2023.
Following this unseemly incident, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the interaction was part of a “ normal workflow’, and Putin had no ‘ serious complaints about Manturov’s work”.
Meanwhile, the US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War said the televised berating of the minister was part of a campaign to elevate Putin’s image as a dedicated wartime leader.