Russia's army guarantor of stability, says Putin

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called Russia’s army a guarantor of national stability, promising to boost arms production nearly a year after the start of the Ukraine offensive.

“A modern, efficient army and navy are a guarantee of the country’s security and sovereignty, a guarantee of its stable development and its future,” Putin said in a video address on the occasion of the annual “Defender of the Fatherland Day” holiday in Russia.

“That’s why, as before, we will pay priority attention to strengthening our defence capabilities,” he added on the eve of the first anniversary of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.

Putin said Russia will “conduct the balanced and high-quality development of all components of the armed forces” in particular by equipping troops with “new strike systems, reconnaissance and communication equipment, drones and artillery systems”.

“Now our industry is rapidly increasing the production of an entire range of conventional weapons,” he said in the video released by the Kremlin.

The president also hailed Russian soldiers, who are fighting “heroically” in Ukraine and “defending our people in our historical lands”.

Russia’s “unbreakable unity is the key to our victory,” he said.

Putin sent Moscow’s troops to Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching what he called a “special military operation” there.

In the autumn he announced the mobilisation of 300,000 reservists to boost Russia’s ranks in Ukraine, which is backed financially and militarily by Washington and several European capitals.

During his two decades in power, Putin has made strengthening the armed forces a top priority and introduced hypersonic weapons, which he described as “invincible”, to Russia’s arsenal.