CORRECT: Official: Russia to reduce defense order spending 10% ‘16

(Corrects in headline, lede that reduction concerns defense order spending, not defense spending)

MOSCOW, Mar 11 (PRIME) -- The Russian government plans to cut spending on defense orders, including on equipment purchases, by 10% in 2016, CEO of state industrial corporation Rostec Sergei Chemezov told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Friday.

“I think government defense orders will be reduced by about 10%,” Chemezov said. “Everything that has been started will be finished, and money will be allocated for it. We probably won’t release anything new for now. That will probably be put on hold.”

He said that the government plans to reduce defense orders after 2020, the date of the state rearmament program fulfillment, and heads of all companies belonging to the Rostec holding have received an order to raise the share of output of civil products to 50% by 2025.

(71.0928 rubles – U.S. $1)

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