Putin: Russian Military Must Be Prepared To Face Destabilizing Threats

March 3, 2013 • 9:26AM

On Feb. 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech to the Defense Ministry, in which he laid out not only his view of modernization of Russia's military forces, but also the potential and actual threats that those forces need to be able to respond to. "We see how instability and conflict are spreading around the world, today," he said. "Armed conflict continues in the Middle East and Asia and the danger of 'export' of radicalism and chaos continues to grow in our neighboring regions.

"At the same time, we see methodical attempts to undermine the strategic balance in various ways and forces," Putin continued. "The United States has essentially launched now the second phase in its global missile defense system. There are attempts to sound out possibilities for expanding NATO further eastward, and there is also the danger of the militarization of the Arctic."

These challenges, just a few among the many Russia faces, "are of direct concern to our national interests and therefore also determine our priorities," Putin said. Putin cited close integration of Eurasia, through moving towards the establishment of an Eurasian economic Union, as well as deepening Russia's partnership with both the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS group, as among Russia's top priorities.

The rest of his remarks concerned the objectives of Russian defense policy, to include the development of an integral military strategic planning system, and modernization of not only the military's equipment, but also the way it trains and plans to fight.