MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. Russia’s authorities have managed to do much to develop the country’s defense sector and its armed forces following economic recovery, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview for a documentary entitled "Russia: Its Recent History" aired on the Rossiya-1 TV channel on Sunday.

"A key task was to revive the economy and on the basis of the revived economy and the social sphere, because it was necessary to give people a breath of fresh air, on this basis to revive the defense sector, to revive our scientific schools and armed forces. Indeed, we have managed to do much in this sphere," he said.

A fragment of this interview was aired by the Rossiya-1 television channel in June 2020, when the president noted that Russia and the United States "have approximate parity in terms of both delivery tools and warheads." "But we are the leaders in terms of prospective developments," Putin stressed, adding that Russia is modernizing its traditional weapons and develops new systems.

"In his sense, it can be said with confidence that we are number one in this world," he said.

According to the president, Russia had to build plans of its security in conditions of the United States’ withdrawal from the Antiballistic Missile Treaty. "We did it thanks to the advanced systems I spoke about in 2018 (in the state-of-the-nation address - TASS)," he said, adding that no one can intercept these missiles now and this is what makes Russia’s current position quite unique.

He admitted that leading military powers will develop hyper-sound weapons with time. "Such weapons will be developed. But I think we will be able to surprise our partners when they obtain such weapons, as, with a great degree of probability, we will have means to combat such weapons," he said.