Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the serial production of the Oreshnik ballistic missile is underway, highlighting the strengthening of combat capabilities as an “urgent task.”
Speaking at a meeting with graduates of military universities in the Kremlin, Putin stressed the importance of increasing the combat capabilities of all branches of the Russian military and recalled the formation of a separate branch of the military to deal with drone warfare.
Defining the technical modernization of the army and navy as “one of the priority areas,” Putin said it was part of a new large-scale and long-term State Armaments Program for 2027-2036.
The Russian president said that Russia would pay special attention to its nuclear triad, adding that the Strategic Missile Forces would be equipped with modern Yars missile systems, and that the aviation component of its strategic nuclear forces would be replenished with modernized Tu-160M strategic bombers this year.
“Serial production of the latest medium-range Oreshnik missile system, which has proven itself very well in combat conditions, is underway,” Putin said.
He said that “the navy will include new ships and submarines equipped with the latest generation of high-precision weapons.”
Russia first used the Oreshnik ballistic missile in November 2024, when Putin said Moscow had hit a facility in the Ukrainian city of Dnieper using a medium-range missile in response to Kiev’s use of long-range Western weapons on Russian territory.
Putin also touched on the current international situation, which he said was changing “dynamically,” claiming that the situation in the Middle East had escalated “dramatically” and that extra-regional powers were being drawn into the conflict.
“All this is bringing the world to a very dangerous point,” Putin said.
He stressed that “we cannot but be concerned that many Western politicians continue to hatch plans to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.”
“Their history has taught them nothing,” he said.
He claimed that the West planned to announce the start of a major program to further increase NATO’s capabilities during the alliance’s upcoming summit later this month, and that member states’ military budgets would be increased to implement this.
“Meanwhile, the bloc’s members already spend more on military purposes than all the countries of the world combined. From this it is clear who is actually provoking global militarization and an arms race,” he said, denying the idea of ”some kind of possible invasion of Europe” by Russia.
“Given the growth of geopolitical tensions, we will continue to take adequate measures to strengthen the security of Russia and our allies, and develop our armed forces as a guarantee of Russia’s sovereign and independent development,” Putin added, AA writes.
