YEKATERINBURG, July 11. /TASS/. The geopolitical situation development has shown that Russia can play a significant role in the world only with strong armed forces, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in Yekaterinburg on Monday at a meeting with local activists of the United Russia party. He added that the government's previous decisions on the military-industrial complex development were correct.
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"When I took up this matter, approved the corresponding state program [for the military-industrial complex development], then there was much controversy over the issue of allocating such huge funds to the defense sector ... Then, I believe, we took absolutely right decisions - first, we supported our industry, supported the defense complex that began to rebound, received orders. Second, just as importantly, the subsequent development of the geopolitical situation has shown that our state can be strong, significant only if it has strong armed forces, if it is capable of fulfilling any tasks," Medvedev said.
According to the prime minister, there are special standards in Russia for bringing the share of new equipment in the armed forces up to a certain level. In some cases, according to Medvedev, the share of new equipment in the army reaches 70%, and sometimes - even more.