TSAMTO, December 16th. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at an expanded meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Defense, which is taking place at the National Defense Management Center of the Russian Federation.
Below is a speech by V.Putin is quoted in the statement of the Kremlin's press service.
Vladimir Putin: Dear comrades!
Today, as part of an expanded meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Defense, we will discuss the main results of work for 2024, define tasks for strengthening the defense capability and further development of the Armed Forces.
I would like to note right away that the outgoing year has become a landmark in achieving the goals of a special military operation. Thanks to the professionalism and courage of our soldiers, the heroic work of employees of defense enterprises and the truly nationwide support of the army and navy, Russian troops firmly possess a strategic initiative along the entire line of combat contact.
This year alone, 189 settlements have been liberated. I would like to sincerely thank our heroes: soldiers and officers who selflessly and steadfastly fight on the front line, the personnel of the Ministry of Defense, Rosgvardiya, our special services and other law enforcement agencies, who clearly perform all tasks, no matter how difficult they may be, do not spare themselves, do not want their lives for the sake of victory, for the sake of The Fatherland.
It is our duty to always remember the comrades-in-arms who died defending their homeland and our people, and to surround their families and their children with constant care. I have already said many times and I will repeat once again that their children are our children. We must never forget about this.
I ask you to honor the memory of our fallen comrades with a minute of silence.
(A minute of silence is announced.)
Thank you.
Dear members of the Board!
Today, the military-political situation in the world remains difficult and unstable. Thus, the bloodshed in the Middle East does not stop, and the high conflict potential remains in a number of other regions of the world.
We see that the current US administration, almost the entire collective West, do not give up trying to maintain their global dominance, continue to impose their so-called rules on the world community, which they change over and over again, distorting the way it is convenient for them. Strictly speaking, there is only one stable rule: no rules for those who do this, for those who consider themselves at the head of the whole world, those who consider themselves representatives of the Lord on earth, although they themselves do not believe in the Lord.
And they are waging hybrid wars against undesirable states, implementing a policy of deterrence, including against Russia. In an effort to weaken our country and inflict a strategic defeat on us, the United States continues to pump the virtually illegitimate ruling regime in Kiev with weapons and money, send mercenaries and military advisers and thereby encourage further escalation of the conflict.
At the same time, under the pretext of the mythical Russian threat, they simply scare their population by the fact that we are going to attack someone, because the tactics are very simple: they bring us to the red line, through which we can no longer retreat, we begin to respond, immediately scare their population - then, in ancient times, the Soviet one – now the Russian threat. Meanwhile, the NATO countries themselves are increasing military spending. Strike groups of the alliance's troops are being formed and put together near the Russian borders. Thus, the number of American military personnel in Europe has already exceeded 100,000 people.
NATO's aspirations have long gone beyond the so-called zone of its historical responsibility. In addition to the so-called eastern flank, the alliance is increasing its presence in the Asia-Pacific region. At the instigation of the United States, new military and political alliances are being formed, which undermine the security architecture that has been in place for decades.
Of no less concern are the activities of the United States to create and prepare for the deployment of high-precision ground-based strike weapons with a firing range of up to 5,500 km in advanced zones. At the same time, the transfer and deployment of these missile systems in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region are already being worked out.
Let me remind you that previously such measures were prohibited by the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, which was terminated at the initiative of the United States. We have repeatedly stated that the rupture of this treaty will lead to negative consequences for the entire global security, but stressed at the same time that we will not deploy medium-range and shorter-range missiles until such time as American weapons of this kind appear in any region of the world. In fact, Russia has taken these obligations unilaterally. But, as I have already said, if the United States begins to deploy such systems, then all our voluntary restrictions will be lifted by us.
Given the growing geopolitical tensions, we are forced to take additional measures to ensure the security of Russia and our allies. We are doing this carefully and carefully, without getting involved in a full-scale arms race to the detriment of the socio-economic development of our country.
We pay serious attention to improving the combat strength of the Armed Forces and increasing their capabilities. As part of these tasks, the Leningrad and Moscow Military districts and a number of new units and formations have been formed. The full-time strength of the Armed Forces has been increased to one and a half million military personnel.
The army and navy are being re-equipped with modern weapons and equipment at an accelerated pace. For example, the share of such weapons in the strategic nuclear forces has already reached 95 percent.
At the same time, we clarified the basic principles of the use of nuclear weapons, which are set out in the updated Fundamentals of State Policy in the field of nuclear deterrence. I want to emphasize once again that no one accuses us of rattling nuclear weapons: This is a policy of nuclear deterrence.
Along with the nuclear "triad", general-purpose forces are developing rapidly. The troops are receiving advanced robotic systems, including those using artificial intelligence technologies. Among them are reconnaissance and attack drones, unmanned boats and multi–purpose robotic platforms.
Today, it is important to continue the progressive, systematic development of the army and navy, to achieve the goals of a special military operation, and to be ready for an operational and effective response to potential security challenges of our country. At the same time, it is necessary to focus on solving the following priority tasks.
First. Of course, strategic nuclear forces remain one of the key instruments for maintaining stability and protecting Russia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. We will continue to support their potential and balanced development, and work to create new systems and complexes of deterrence forces. Along with this, it is important to keep non-strategic nuclear forces in constant combat readiness, and to continue the practice of conducting exercises with working out issues of their use.
Second. I have already spoken today about the risks associated with the deployment of medium-range missiles by the United States in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. We will respond to such threats in a comprehensive manner. At the same time, the most important task is to ensure timely detection of the launch of such missiles and their interception. At the same time, it is necessary to debug all issues of mass production and deployment of such domestic shock systems, including hypersonic ones.
As you know, the latest powerful weapon of Russia has become the medium-range missile system "Oreshnik". In November, in response to attacks on the territory of our country using Western weapons, it was successfully used: a ballistic missile in nuclear-free hypersonic equipment was used. Serial production of such complexes should be ensured in the near future to protect the security of Russia and our allies. And it will certainly be done.
The third task. It is necessary to actively implement the experience gained during a special military operation and in the combat training of troops, as well as in the programs of higher military educational institutions. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the methods of conducting military operations, clarify the fundamental statutory documents, increase the level of proficiency in weapons and equipment, as well as the effectiveness of troop management, especially in tactical and operational-tactical units.
I would like to emphasize again: talented officers and sergeants who have proved themselves in a difficult combat situation should form the basis of the command staff of the Armed Forces, as well as become teachers of military educational institutions.
Fourth. The experience of conducting a special military operation should be fully taken into account when determining priority areas for the development of domestic weapons and equipment, tactics of their use. For example, high-precision weapons systems use new guidance methods at the end of the flight of missiles, which allowed them to be used on complex and fortified objects, and to be used successfully.
The noise immunity of the onboard equipment of missile weapons has been significantly increased, new ways of completing flight missions have been worked out. In the future, we need to calculate them in real time according to promptly identified targets – an extremely important task for our military-industrial complex. I'll tell you more about it.
Another important innovation was the direct exchange of information between the units directly involved in the special operation and the defense industry organizations, which I just mentioned. As a result, for a number of products, the average time to eliminate the identified deficiencies is now five to seven days. But even this is not enough: we need to move even faster.
There are positive developments in the organization of repair of equipment, its fine-tuning, taking into account the requirements of the combat situation. But, of course, there are problems too, they remain – they need to be solved consistently. And of course, we must continue to do everything necessary to accelerate the introduction of advanced technologies and other innovations in the military sphere.
Fifth. To reduce the time for decision-making when managing units on the battlefield, an interspecific information exchange system based on mobile devices has been created and has shown its effectiveness. More than six and a half thousand such systems have already been delivered to the troops. As a result of their application, the time for setting tasks decreased by one and a half to two times. Now, due to the introduction of advanced developments in the defense industry, it is necessary to form a single information circuit as soon as possible, combining intelligence and destruction tools at the strategic, operational and tactical levels of management.
Sixth. It is necessary to increase the production of robotic complexes and unmanned systems of various classes and types. At the beginning of the special operation, we had problems in this area: some samples turned out to be expensive and difficult to operate. Today, several thousand drones for various purposes enter the army every day. It is necessary to further improve their combat and operational characteristics. It is equally important to train operators of such complexes, to prepare them according to programs developed based on the experience of real combat operations.
And the seventh. We need to continue and further expand military and military-technical cooperation with allies and partners, with those who are ready and willing to work with us, and these are the majority of countries in the world.
Dear comrades!
I have already spoken today about the huge support of the army and navy from the Russian society. People understand what we are fighting for, what we are defending, helping the front-line soldiers and joining their ranks themselves. An extremely important thing that reflects the state of our society.
I will give you a figure: this year, on average, more than 1,000 people enter military service under a contract every day. People volunteer to go to the front. And the social guarantees of servicemen and their families must be constantly strengthened and developed. This is the most important, systemic task of the state.
Yes, a lot has been done in this area in recent years. This year alone, over 55 thousand servicemen have been provided with housing, and in the next three years it is planned to allocate another 113 billion rubles to provide housing subsidies to military personnel.
The accumulative mortgage system demonstrates high efficiency. Over 20 years of its operation, over 202 thousand servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have been provided with housing. I will add that we need to continue to equip military camps, of course, to increase the level of medical support.
The priority in the work of all authorities should be solving the social issues of the participants in the special operation, taking care of the families of the victims – I already said this at the beginning – and those who were seriously injured during the fighting. This should be the focus of our attention. It is necessary to delve into the problems of each of our comrades and their families and really help solve their problems. This is the task of the Ministry of Defense, and the task of the Government of the Russian Federation, all heads of all levels of government.
In conclusion, I would like once again to thank all participants in the special military operation for their valor, courage and heroism and wish the personnel and civilian personnel of the Armed Forces, the leadership of the Ministry of Defense success in their service, in difficult and responsible work aimed at protecting the sovereignty and national interests of Russia, the security of our people.
I am sure that you will continue to adequately solve all the tasks assigned to you.
Thank you for your attention.
