Fashion designer Valentin Yudashkin has said that the Defense Ministry "coarsely corrupted" the military uniform he designed for the country's armed forces.
Yudashkin said that the initial design he developed in 2007 took into account the requirements of modern warfare but that the government opted for cheaper, low-quality materials in the production process, Izvestia reported Wednesday.
Some of the models were changed completely, he said.
The fashion designer called the country's current military uniforms "fake," drawing a comparison with wanting to purchase "a designer coat and instead getting something from the Chinese market."
The military uniforms drew stinging criticism in December 2010 after hundreds of soldiers suffered pneumonia, allegedly because their clothing was too thin.
Several attempts were made to draw the ministry's attention to inconsistencies between his prototypes and the actual uniforms, but the complaints fell on deaf ears, Yudashkin said.
Yudashkin said that he had held off from distancing himself from the uniforms for so long because he had hoped that the Defense Industry would issue a statement saying that "Yudashkin has nothing to do with the final version of the uniforms, we are the 'Dolce and Gabbanas' who masterminded the whole thing," according to Izvestia.
Earlier this week, newly installed Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reportedly announced that specialists had designed a new uniform for the country's armed forces. The uniform is expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks.
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