Yury Ivanovich Borisov

Yury Ivanovich Borisov was the architect of Russia's most recent Potemkin Village - show the best and hide the rest - a posture that sought to project the image of military without the substance. Such a "superpower on the cheap" strategy was projected by Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, but was eventually weighed in the balance and found wanting. Now in his turn Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin destroyed the prestige - the reputation for power - of the Russian military by the disasterous adventure in Ukraine in 2022.

Yuri Borisov, a deputy prime minister previously in charge of weapons industries, was demoted to chief of Russia's space agency Roscosmos, as part of a reshuffle ordered 15 July 2022 by Russian President Vladimir Putin. This is the same downward career trajectory as that of Dmitry Rogozin, a man known for his blusterous anti-West rhetoric, particularly since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The reshuffle followed rumors of Borisov's removal from the job he held for four years as Russia's arms chief, amid reported flaws and deficiencies in Russian weapons programs spotlighted by the conflict in Ukraine. Borisov acknowledged some of the shortcomings in recent comments, saying that the military industries should have been more active in developing and producing drones. �I think we were late with the deployment of drones," he said in an interview with state TV.

Russia suffers from a mania for greatness, and where Moscow cannot achieve real results, they are simply invented. One such area is armaments and military equipment (ART). Since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014, Russia has been actively boasting of a strong scientific base and the possibility of creating leading technological weapons. In addition, at the same time, due to sanctions, the Kremlin decided to take a course to replace imports with goods produced in Russia. But many of the weapons that were considered the "pride of the nation" simply could not function without foreign components.

On 15 January 2020, it became known that the cabinet, including Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, will resign. Until new appointments were made, all its members continued to fulfill their responsibilities. At that time Borisov as was one of ten Deputy Prime Ministers. Yuri Borisov, who will be part of the new government of Mikhail Mishustin, will also receive supervision over the fuel and energy complex and industry along with issues of the defense industry. Indeed, he will be empowered and supervised by the fuel and energy sectors and industry, which was carried out by Dmitry Kozak in the former government. It was initially unknown whether Borisov will remain in the status of deputy prime minister or will be promoted to first deputy prime minister.

Borisov is familiar with the problems of the fuel and energy complex: for example, in 2019, he, together with Kozak, oil industry and defense companies, discussed the implementation of the president�s order on conversion in the defense industry. In the conditions of a falling state defense order, Borisov suggested that the plants speed up the production of equipment for oil and gas companies, which, due to sanctions, had lost western suppliers. In this case, the fuel and energy complex enterprises would get freedom of action against the background of sanctions and could �spit on the Americans�.

It will be difficult for Borisov to fully supervise both the defense and civilian industries, as well as the fuel and energy complex, head of the National Energy Security Fund Konstantin Simonov to RBS. �If Borisov understands the defense industry thoroughly: he spent all his life dealing with the defense complex and arms procurement issues, then the fuel and energy complex is an alien region for him. Oil and gas have serious specifics, this is a more difficult area of ??work than even being responsible for industry,� the political scientist believed.

Yury Ivanovich Borisov on May 7, 2018 was nominated for the post of Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, overseeing the development of the military-industrial complex. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on May 18, 2018 appointed him to the post of Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.

Ruslan PUKHOV, member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), noted in a July 05, 2018 interview with the weekly Zvezda and the Army Standard magazine that although GPV-2020 [State Arms Program for 2018�2027] was being formed "even before Yuri Borisov was appointed deputy defense minister for armaments, its implementation took place precisely under his leadership. Let me remind you that this arms program has become the most successful in all post-Soviet times. It was Borisov who managed to build a working system for implementing the program. And Borisov restored cooperative relations between the Ministry of Defense and industrialists."

Yury Ivanovich Borisov was born on December 31, 1956 in the city of Vyshny Volochek, Kalinin region (now - Tver region). He graduated from the Kalinin Suvorov Military School (1974), Pushkin Higher Command School of Radio Electronics of Air Defense (1978) and Moscow State University named after MV Lomonosov. Lomonosov Moscow State University (1985). From 1978 to 1998 he served on officer posts in the Armed Forces of the USSR, the Russian Federation.

Doctor of Technical Sciences, he was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree, the Order of Alexander Nevsky, the Order of Honor, the Order of Service for the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the III degree and a number of medals. Laureate of the State Prize named after Marshal G.K. Zhukov. He is married, and has two sons.

Since 1978 he served in the armed forces. After graduating from the Pushkin Higher Command School of Radio Electronics of Air Defense, Yuri Borisov served in the army as an officer. Then he entered Moscow State University at the faculties of computational mathematics and cybernetics, graduating in 1985.

After being transferred to the reserve in 1998, he became the general director of CJSC �Scientific and Technical Center �Module�" (development of avionics, image recognition complexes and integrated circuits). From 1998 to 2004 he was Director General of Closed Joint Stock Company "Scientific and Technical Center" Module". After dismissal from military service in the reserve from 1998 to 2004, from July 2004 to October 2007 he was Head of the Department of Radio Electronics and Management Systems of the Federal Agency for Industry. Since October 2007 he served as Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Industry.

Since July 2008 - Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation. Since March 2011 - First Deputy Chairman of the Military-Industrial Commission under the Government of the Russian Federation.

By Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of November 15, 2012 appointed Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. In this post he is responsible for military and technical support and military-technical policy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, for the creation, development and modernization of weapons, military and special equipment. Under the authority of the Deputy Minister, there are departments: armaments, to secure state defense order and state order placement, as well as five departments and a technical inspection of the Ministry of Defense.

Since June 5, 2013 he was also the chairman of the military-technical committee under the Council of Defense Ministers of the CIS. He is a member of the Board of Directors of OJSC Uralvagonzavod and the United Aircraft Corporation.

Borisov got "under the skin" of the FSB of the Russian Federation after he initiated a case of disclosure of information containing state secrets, including a TV show of the secret torpedo "Status 6". Its main figure was the first deputy defense minister Yuri Borisov, who had the imprudence to look through a folder with secret information from journalists. It was very unusual for him to find such a role.

According to experts, Borisov built his own "vertical" in the Ministry of Defense, which provided for full control over all economic activities and the conclusion of billion-dollar contracts through the military-industrial complex.

On June 27, 2018 a meeting of the board of the Military-Industrial Commission of the Russian Federation was held, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov. The meeting was devoted to the development of production of high-tech civil and dual-use products by defense industry organizations within the framework of the state program "Development of the Defense Industrial Complex". By 2025, the share of civilian products produced by defense industry enterprises should be at least 30%, and by 2030 - at least 50%.

On July 13, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov held a meeting on the basis of JSC "MIC" NPO Mashinostroyeniya", which was attended by the governor of the Moscow region Andrei Vorobyov, heads of enterprises of the defense industry of the region. The meeting in Reutov was the next in a chain of meetings held by the vice-premier with the leadership of defense enterprises of different regions. Borisov made a special emphasis on solving the issues of production diversification at the defense industry enterprises.

The share of civilian products in the structure of output of branches of the defense industrial complex (MIC) of Russia in 2019 increased from 20.9% in 2018 to 24.1% in 2019. This is stated 11 January 2020 in the presentation of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Yuri Borisov, which provided a preliminary assessment of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia. Borisov delivered a lecture on Saturday "The modern military-industrial complex of Russia: new challenges and development paths" to cadets of the military training center of the Siberian Federal University named after Hero of Russia General V.P.Dubynin. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which Borisov reported, in 2019 the share of civilian products in the aircraft industry amounted to 34.1%; in the electronic industry - 14.6%; in shipbuilding - 19.1%. "The president set the task to increase the share of civilian products in the structure of the defense industry to 20% by 2025 and to 50% by 2030," Borisov recalled.

"Borisov is one of the best figures in this post. The person who has the experience and military service and work in the defense industry, and management of a private enterprise ... knows the kitchen inside - said magazine "Arsenal Fatherland" editor Viktor Murakhovski. According to the expert, Borisov does not make high-profile statements, is very close to reality, understands the time frame for which projects can be implemented, knows how to coordinate the interests of the defense industry and the military customer. "And this is not easy - some want more and cheaper, while others want more and more, says Murakhovsky. - In general, under his leadership, it is possible to carry out the armament program, and with a percentage execution that was previously unattainable for the entire post-Soviet period - 97-98%. The arms program is a very long-term history, the finish line will not be here. In some areas, we even managed to escape from developed countries. This controlled and supersonic, some types of high-precision samples, electronic warfare. Yes, there are problem points. This fleet, with its long construction cycles, and electronics - it has not been the most advanced in our country since Soviet times. Nevertheless, we are trying, within the framework of the reasonable, to work on the principle of necessary and sufficient. And Borisov worthily showed himself in this place."