Putin: Russia Should Use Defense Industry Experience Gained During WWII

The Russian leader said it was useful to take into consideration the Soviet Union's experience of organizing its defense industry during WWII.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia should use the best practices that were implemented during WWII in the country's defense industry, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Putin chaired a meeting of the 37th Russian Pobeda (Victory) Organizing Committee dedicated to preparations for the 71st anniversary of Victory in the 1941–1945 Great Patriotic War, or the Eastern Front in Western terminology. During the meeting, he mentioned an idea first floated by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin to use the experience of WWII on the relocation of defense enterprises.

"Modern means of warfare are such that there will be no need for anyone to move anywhere. But [the idea] of having a look at the management process, especially in the defense industry, is certainly reasonable… Using the experience of the past, especially the positive experience, is never in vain," Putin said at the meeting.

During the first months of the Great Patriotic War, 1941-1945, the Soviet authorities relocated heavy industry from western regions of the country to regions east of the Ural Mountains in order to preserve country's industrial potential, especially in the defense sphere, and to hamper German attempts to seize Soviet defense enterprises.