MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken in favor of increasing the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for monitoring and surveying natural disasters.

In his words, the technology is already being used for monitoring large areas of forest in Russia, "but on a small, very limited scale."

"Opportunities, however, are indeed colossal in this domain, including control over all natural ecosystems," Putin said during a meeting on drone development in the Rudnevo industrial park on Thursday. ‘Those systems should be used for timely prevention and response to emergency situations."

Also, in his opinion, unmanned systems should be "widely used in our vast territories, including for quick delivery of food, medicines, postal services and other sought-after social services."

"In the coming years, unmanned aerial systems should to a great extent assume control over industrial facilities, pipeline systems, power grid, practically over all vital infrastructure," the president went on.

"Use of drones should open fundamentally different opportunities, impossible at the previous level of technological development," Putin added.