Russia: Putin meets with head of Financial Monitoring Yuri Chikhanchin

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with director of the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring Yuri Chikhanchin in Novo-Ogaryovo, Monday. During the meeting Chikhanchin warned the Russian president that around 100 companies were involved in "shady schemes" relating to contracts with the Ministry of Defence. "We already highlighted about 100 businesses which are involved in shady schemes. We reported them to the Ministry of Defence and to the banks so that they should pay due attention to them," he said. Chikhanchin also raised concerns about companies carrying out state defence orders whilst having other commitments. "There are a number of companies where 20 to 30 percent of their production is for state defence orders and the rest is other forms of activity. There are a lot of questions because companies working on other orders can fall into bankruptcy or into more serious conditions and it is likely that the contract will not be executed," the financial watchdog chief stated. In his annual federal assembly address delivered at the end of last year Putin called for tighter financial controls over defence spending. The Defence Ministry and Federal Service for Financial Monitoring were ordered to develop an effective system of strict oversight concerning funding for defence procurement.