On Wednesday, a recording of Russian President Vladimir Putin losing his temper while arguing with his deputy prime minister, was released by Russian media.
RIA Novosti released a video showcasing a part of Putin’s first video call meeting of the year with government ministers, when he sparred with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov and proceeded to humiliate him by asking why he was “fooling around” instead of securing new contracts for plane construction.
The incident started with a disagreement over whether or not new contracts had been issued for 2023 with Manturov claiming they had been and Putin claiming they had not. After going back and forth, Putin became annoyed, chastising the deputy prime minister.
“There are still no orders at some enterprises … for a long time. Too long. Enterprises must understand their prospects, orders — they must hire labor, maintain or expand production facilities, you understand? They need to understand how many military ships, how many civilian ones will be ordered. There aren’t any orders for 2023,” Putin said, asking, “So? When will this be sorted?”
The tantrum against Manturov continued, with Putin even taking a mocking tone towards the Deputy prime minister when Manturov attempted to defend himself, going on for a full minute while the minister awkwardly stared at his papers.
In the end, Manturov was given one month as a deadline to complete the daunting task of securing contracts for aircraft production. He must find ways around extensive Western sanctions that cut off some key aircraft components.
The sanctions are in place, of course, due to Putin’s own decision to invade the nation of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, an invasion that is just over a month away from reaching its first anniversary.
Putin has struggled to make progress in the nation, which has staunchly defended itself against the foreign invaders while accepting billions of dollars in aid from the United States and other nations.
Reports also allege that Putin is also battling worsening health and a cancer diagnosis with a recent report claiming that the 70-year-old Russian president was treated with Western cancer drugs and another report claiming that he fell down a flight of stairs and soiled himself.
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