MOSCOW, May 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's strategic forces will be bolstered with new weaponry while the army must be ready to resist external pressure and fight in global and regional conflicts, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.
In his annual address to both chambers of parliament, the president said a predominantly professional army remained a priority and the Armed Forces had to be capable of reacting to multiple threats, ranging from a traditional enemy attack or pressure exerted by another country to an attack carried out by international terrorists.
"We should always be ready to repel a potential external aggressor and international terrorism attacks, and should be able to respond to any attempt to exert foreign policy pressure on Russia," he said.
The Russian leader highlighted the role of the strategic nuclear forces in this effort and said the nuclear triad would be substantially strengthened in the next five years. In particular, two strategic nuclear submarines will be commissioned this year, he said.
"Russia has not built such submarines since 1990," Putin said in his hour-long speech. "They will be armed with Bulava nuclear missiles, which together with Topol-Ms will form the base for the strategic defense forces."
He added that Russia had five missile regiments equipped with silo-based Topol-M (SS-27) ballistic missiles, and that the first regiment equipped with mobile Topol-M systems would be put on combat duty in 2006.
"In the next five years we must significantly increase the procurement of modern aircraft, submarines and strategic missiles for the Armed Forces," Putin said.
The president also said current research was focused on the development of unique high-precision weapons and warheads "whose trajectory could not be predicted by a potential enemy."
But even though he said the new weaponry would allow the country to maintain the strategic balance of forces in the world, Putin issued a warning on the dangers that new technology presented.
"We still have no guarantees that weapons, including nuclear weapons, will not be deployed in the space," he said. "There is the potential threat of the construction and proliferation of low-yield nuclear weapons. Moreover, media and experts have been discussing the use of intercontinental ballistic missiles with a non-nuclear warhead. The launch of such a missile may provoke an inappropriate reaction from nuclear powers including a full-scale counterstrike with the use of strategic nuclear forces."
Although he said there was no role for an army of 1.4 million men in today's world, he ruled out downsizing the Army's combat units, saying the target of a million people would be achieved through men retiring from the ranks.
Putin said Russia would continue its gradual transition to a professional army with the goal of securing two-thirds of the army manned by contracted personnel forming about 600 constant combat readiness units by 2011. Only contracted servicemen will participate in anti-terrorism operations, he added.
The Russian leader said the Armed Forces must be able to fight in global, regional and local conflicts simultaneously.
"Our army should have every opportunity to react appropriately to current threats," Putin said. "The Army should include armed forces able to simultaneously fight in global, regional and if necessary several local conflicts."
The president said Russia's defense spending should be comparable with that of any other nuclear power, but cautioned against developing the military at the expense of the economy and social sphere, a strategy that is generally believed to have led to the fall of the U.S.S.R.
"While understanding how acute the problem is, we should not repeat the mistakes of the Soviet Union, of the Cold War era either in politics or in defense strategy," Putin said.
In 2005, the Russian budget allocated less than $20 billion on defense spending, against a Pentagon budget of $447 billion.
Given hazing scandals rocking the Army this year and problems with guaranteeing soldiers' a place to live, Putin called for serious work to be conducted on raising the prestige of the army and providing appropriate social conditions for military personnel, including housing.
"By 2010, we should resolve the situation around permanent housing, and by 2012 around service housing for military personnel," he said. "We are also planning to raise service pay and develop a system of insurance and medical assistance for servicemen."
