Layoffs hit Russian defense industry, Ukraine’s CCD reports

The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine announced this via Telegram.

“One of the largest producers of special alloys for Russia’s defense -industrial complex — AMZ in Chelyabinsk region — is closing its stainless-steel production shop and dismissing more than 300 workers. Other divisions of the enterprise are also experiencing problems: people are being sent on unpaid leave or moved to a prt-time schedule,” reads the message.

According to the Center, these reductions at AMZ indicate a broader spread of problems within Russia’s defense industry. Beginning in September, the defense-industrial complex, which for the last three years had served as a main driver of the Russian economy thanks to huge budget infusions, began losing ground. Economists attribute this to budget exhaustion and a reduction in state orders.

The Center emphasized that the shutdown of AMZ’s shop is a symbolic signal: the Kremlin can no longer fund the war without limit. Even defense-industry enterprises are no longer able to withstand the burden caused by war. The defense-industrial complex, which had helped keep the economy from collapse during the full-scale invasion, is now gradually turning into a drag on it.

As previously reported, after three years of growth the Russian defense-industrial complex is now in decline.