Yesterday the Defence Minister flew into Komsomolsk on the Amur in Siberia to save the Russian aircraft industry, which only managed to sustain itself in the 1990s with the aid of Chinese and Indian contracts for aircraft. On this occasion Shoigu was able to offer credits of 280 million roubles for future aircraft production, both military and, it seems, civilian. On the back of rising gold prices and the restoration of oil prices, Russia appears able to stabilise its financial situation even to the point of adding yet more defence production to its budget.

See today’s Vedomosti: