Mr Idrisov says RT also has promising firms in areas such as electronics, optical instruments and metallurgy, many of them doing a mix of military and civilian work.

ECONOMIST: Industry in Russia

Just as the PC usurped the mainframe and set off explosive change in computers, new optical technologies may someday overtake electronics and topple the established telecom order.

FORBES: Hooked on photonics

As the primary developers of the compact disc, Sony and Philips Electronics have long enjoyed royalties on certain optical disc patents.

FORBES: Geekdom gone gaga

It includes optical films for computer monitors, televisions, and hand-held electronics.

FORBES: Post-Its Still Yield In Digital Age

Companies now are racing to make the components faster and drive the cost much lower, so that optical connections can also accelerate communications inside and among PCs and consumer-electronics devices.

WSJ: IBM Claims Breakthrough in Laser-Based Chips

Such crystals might serve as components of optical switches which would, among other things, fulfill the role played by transistors in conventional electronics.

ECONOMIST: Microelectronics grows up