MOSCOW, June 13. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans on Tuesday to build up the country's space-based cluster and increase the production of unmanned aerial vehicles during the course of the special military operation.

"We are making adjustments now; just recently we launched a satellite, we will be increasing our [satellite] constellation," Putin said as he met with war correspondents, answering a question about what Russia will do considering it is now lagging behind the West in terms of space reconnaissance. "Russia is ranked fifth in the world in terms of its satellite constellation," Putin specified. "Our grouping is good in general," he added.

According to Putin, while the space-based cluster is being upgraded, work has to be carried out for its substitution. "These are UAV’s of various types, these are both strike and reconnaissance drones, but this requires time," the president went on to say.

"In previous years, we should have mapped out our space activities differently, but after all, we didn't plan the Crimean events, we didn't plan the developments that we are seeing now. We are trying to stop this armed conflict, unfortunately we were forced to use arms, but we were not the ones to start it," Putin explained. He pointed out that space programs are "long-term projects, planned years in advance and then implemented." "And they are being implemented the way we planned it five to seven years ago," Putin noted.