Putin directs government to draft national plan for drone industry development by Sept 1

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday instructed the government to draft and approve a national plan for the development of the drone industry by Sept. 1.

Speaking at the plenary session of the Future Technologies Forum in Moscow, Putin said the country is facing pressure, and that access to technologies is being restricted in order "to make Russia refuse from the right to choose its own historical path."

"Our opponents expected us to back down, to give up, but that will not be the case," he stressed.

The sanctions have the opposite effect, as Russia boosted the development of a number of industries, the president said.

"We understand that in the current conditions, the main thing for advanced development is to focus efforts on priority tasks ... in those areas that are critical for the development of the country and where we must necessarily have our own competencies," he noted, naming the drone industry as one of the most important sectors.

"We bought many critical technologies in this area, as they say, in someone else's store, in a kind of supermarket of ready-made solutions produced by someone. And at some point, the door was just tightly closed in front of us, and the sign ‘Closed’ was hung up," he explained.

Russia has learned its lesson, and the country's government, public and private companies have already done much to improve the situation, but more complex, systemic tasks lie ahead, he added.

The president said Russia plans to discuss joint perspective projects with BRICS countries, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, including during its chairmanship next year.

"In particular, we are talking about advanced computing, processing, storage, and data transmission technologies," he said.

The Future Technologies Forum, Computing, and Communications: The Quantum World opens a series of annual events to discuss innovation practices of the country’s technological development.