Vladimir Putin publicly loses his temper as he slams minister over massive error

In a rare occurrence, Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly criticized the work of one of his ministers for delays in securing essential parts and supplies for the war effort in Ukraine.

Trusted minister

Putin has been described as losing his cool when scolding publicly his trade and industry minister, Denis Manturov, during a state council meeting, BBC reports.

Manturov is a trusted minister in Putin's government, having been on the ministerial team since 2012.

Last summer, Manturov was given the task of handling Russia's weapons industry, a period in which shortcomings were exposed on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Nevertheless, Manturov was criticised by Putin for bureaucratic delays and working too slowly on the country’s aircraft contracts.

One month deadline

According to The Guardian, Manturov tried to justify the delays and laid out a plan to build helicopter engines in St Petersburg that were previously manufactured in Ukraine.

Putin appeared agitated and was noticed rolling his eyes and shuffling documents before interrupting Manturov to correct him about the lack of contracts:

I know that there are no contracts at the enterprises, the directors told me. What are you, really, playing the fool? When will the contracts be signed?

It is all taking too long for Putin.

Too long, [it is taking] too long … I ask you to expedite this work.

Putin told Manturov that trying his best is not enough and gave him one month to finish the job, emphasizing rhetorically the high stakes involved:

No, don’t try to do your best. Do it within a month. Don’t you understand the situation we’re in? It needs to be done in a month, no later.

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Lashing out at his officials publicly is indeed rare for Putin. In recent years, it has happened only once before.

Three days before the Ukraine war broke out, Putin had asked top security officials whether Russia should recognise two occupied areas of eastern Ukraine as independent.

During the meeting, Putinlashed out at one of his closest allies and foreign intelligence chief, Sergei Naryshkin, who regrettably suggested Russia's Western partners should be given one last chance.

In turn, President Putin began to interrogate him until Naryshkin stopped stumbling over his words and voted in favour of the motion to recognise two Ukrainian regions as independent, BBC reports.

Sources used:

-BBC: ‘Russia's Putin lays into minister Manturov for 'fooling around'

-TheGuardian: ‘Putin scolds defence industry minister in televised meeting for ‘fooling around’