Russian Armed Forces must not weaken - Putin
MOSCOW. Feb 23 (Interfax) - The self-sufficient Russian Armed Forces are necessary for the country's sustainable development, and their weakening will have the most unpredictable implications, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the awards ceremony on the occasion of the Defender of the Fatherland Day.
"Whenever the Army and the Navy, the Armed Forces, the nation's military component are self-sufficient, strong, and developed, there are conditions for the peaceful and sustainable development of the country and stable international relations. It may look like it has always been this way and this is a normal situation," Putin said.
"Yet as soon as the Armed Forces weaken, problems we have never given a thought to will emerge, and threats we have never imagined will appear," he said.
"Over the past few years, the Russian Armed Forces have acquired new development dynamics, the one Russia needs," Putin said.