NOVO-OGARYOVO, August 14 (Itar-Tass) — The authorities of the Russian Federation will not be decreasing the spending on the country’s defense, Russian President Vladimir Putin told on Tuesday the conference on expanding Moscow’s boundaries.
During the talk on financing the project, Putin stressed particularly that there must be no cuts in the allocations for defense. “To say nothing of the unquestionable need to fulfill the armaments program, this is one of the most important tasks of the state,” Putin said. “It is not that somebody wishes to spend more money. The point is that the systems essential to our defense potential have already completed their service life and must be replaced,” he said.
Putin said there is some room for maneuver, but still this will not amount to a cardinal decrease of financing, “and, in general, there will be no decrease at all,” the president said.