Sergey Chemezov

Russian President Vladimir Putin officially began his fifth presidential term on Tuesday, marking the start of another six-year tenure. The ceremony, held at the Grand Kremlin Palace, was notable for its absence of representatives from the United States and many European Union countries due to ongoing tensions over the war in Ukraine.

"The testing of the new self-propelled artillery units has been completed and their mass production has already begun," said Sergey Chemezov, the head of Rostec, in an interview with the state news agency RIA, adding that the first pilot batch will be delivered by the end of 2023.

He then spoke about the order of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, that all air defense systems must be improved, and then he particularly emphasized the S-350, S-500 and never-before-mentioned S-550 air defense systems.

Russia was "ready to cooperate" to sell Ankara Su-57 fighter jets if Turkey's participation in the F-35 jet program with the U.S. fell through, the head of the Russian state-owned Rostec Corporation's Sergey Chemezov said on May 2.

The head of Russia's strategic defense industry corporation Rostec says Moscow is ready to sell S-400 air defense systems to any nation that feels insecure and wants to seal its airspace, including the US if it wants to.

Iran will receive the bulk of the S-300 air defense missile systems it ordered from Russia by the end of the year, Tehran's defense minister has said.

"We signed a contract with Russia. It is being done. We will acquire a large portion of the systems by the end of this year," Iranian Minister of Defense Hossein Dehghan told state television late Nov. 10.