Vladimir Putin has publicly scolded a senior minister and ally during a meeting broadcast on state television as sanctions from the stalling war in Ukraine caused fresh economic headaches for the Russian president.
Speaking during a live video call with officials on Wednesday, the Russian leader appeared agitated and berated deputy prime minister Denis Manturov, who is also his trade and industry minister and responsible for overseeing Russia’s weapons and defence industry and supplies of equipment for troops. Putin criticised him for working too slowly on the country’s aircraft contracts, according to a transcript of the call later published by the Kremlin.
Manturov, who has accompanied the president on several trips and is thought to have his favour, attempted to justify the delays, explaining that his ministry was set to build helicopter engines in St Petersburg that were previously manufactured in Ukraine when Putin rolled his eyes and replied: “Too long, [it is taking] too long … I ask you to expedite this work.”
At the beginning of the call, Manturov, who became subject to UK sanctions last month, is heard promising Putin that he will provide 175bn roubles (£2.12bn) to state airline Aeroflot to lease civilian and military aircraft for 2023 though to 2025.
However Putin interrupts to claim none of the contracts are ready. “I know that there are no contracts at the enterprises, the directors told me,” he says. “What are you, really, playing the fool? When will the contracts be signed?”
Russian aviation industry didn't receive a single contract to produce a passenger plane in 2022. pic.twitter.com/9xwHYTBC3X
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) January 11, 2023
“These 700 aircraft, including helicopters, need to be worked out together with the Ministry of Defence, so that it is clear: how many the military department will order, and how many civilian ships will be ordered. Some enterprises still do not have an order, even for 2023.
“Everyone understands the urgency of these issues,” Putin says, adding that “everything must be done within a month.
“No, don’t try to do your best. Do it within a month. Don’t you understand the situation we’re in? It needs to be done in a month, no later.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was later quoted by state media agency Tass as saying that Putin had “no serious complaints about Manturov’s work”.
“This is a normal workflow,” he added.
The televised incident is likely part of an ongoing Kremlin information campaign to elevate Putin’s image as an involved wartime leader, US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War suggested in its latest update on Thursday.
“Putin likely seeks scapegoats for the Russian defence industrial base’s struggle to address equipment and technological shortages,” the report read.
“The Kremlin could have cut out the disagreement from its official transcript … but chose to publicise Putin’s harsh response, possibly to identify other officials within the Kremlin as the culprits for Russian defence industrial base’s challenges and possibly to threaten other officials.”
The meeting came on the same day that Putin replaced his top commander in Ukraine after just three months in charge, in a move that is likely to have had political dimensions. The change in leadership comes amid ongoing tensions between senior figures in charge of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff, was appointed on Wednesday as overall commander for the war, in the latest of several major shake-ups of Moscow’s military leadership.
In a statement, the defence ministry said that Gerasimov’s appointment constituted a “raising of the status of the leadership” of the military force in Ukraine and was implemented to “improve the quality … and effectiveness of the management of Russian forces”.
