MOSCOW, July 3./TASS/. The years that have passed since the disintegration of the Soviet Union are not enough for cementing the foundations of the Russian state, but the process is underway with President Vladimir Putin keeping it at the center of his focus, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday commenting on the Russian leader’s statement that the country was still going through a crucial state in its development process.

Addressing the Russian people on Thursday, the president said: "Not much time has passed by historical standards since the collapse and disintegration of the Soviet Union, and certainly modern Russia is still undergoing the development and formation stage."

"We are still very vulnerable in many respects, and much, as regular folks say, has been hastily strung together, we need internal stability, time to strengthen the country, and all its institutions," the Russian leader stressed.

"The president himself said that after the Soviet Union had ceased to exist, after this unprecedented collapse in history, not much time passed as far as historical context goes. And of course, this is very little time for a full-fledged formation, strengthening and cementing of the foundations of any state, including the Russian Federation," he said. That is why, "many legal foundations, many regulatory practices have been hastily strung together," Peskov added.

"We can see that the process of improvement is consistently ongoing, the cementing process necessary for the full and irreversible strengthening of the state, and a very important and significant step in this direction was indeed the finalized process of amending the constitution," Peskov emphasized.

"Vladimir Putin is working on it persistently, this [strengthening of the state] is among the priorities of his work," he pledged. "Twenty years ago we lived in a state whose condition left much to be desired, the state was on the brink of a collapse, it was living amid existential threats — threats from the inside and outside," Peskov reiterated. "Now, we don’t live like that anymore, we live very differently, but a host of endeavors still lies ahead that the president spoke about," he added.

When asked if there was an indicator showing that the legacy of the 1990s had been surmounted, Peskov said that "certainly, a number of figures can be used as a reference." "And the main indicator testifying to stability of the state system is what the president spoke about," he added.