GUDERMES /Chechen Republic/, February 19. /TASS/. Russia has increased its manufacturing of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) dramatically since launching the special military operation in Ukraine in order to address a significant gap in drone production, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said.

"We have recently increased the production of various drones quite significantly because - let’s face it - we were not among the leading countries in this field before the special military operation; in fact, we lagged far behind," he noted at a meeting with the commanders of Chechen units taking part in the special military operation.

"We do have good tanks and missiles, which are actually very good; we also have a strategic nuclear complex. However, we did not produce drones [to any significant degree]," Medvedev pointed out. "We have now started to manufacture them but we need to increase production. The Defense Ministry is working on that along with the country’s national defense sector," he stressed.