Putin wants armed forces' faster rearmament

Russian President Vladimir Putin Wednesday expressed dissatisfaction over the slow pace of nation's military rearmament, while warning that outdated military equipment threatened to hurt the efficiency of the entire army.

There was scant progress in balanced development of weaponry for the Russian armed forces, Putin said during a meeting on the federal armament programme held in Izhevsk city, home to many military enterprises, reported Xinhua.

Naming the equipment for reconnaissance, combat management and rear support as the weak links in military machinery production and design, Putin said: "Weakness of even one link decreases efficiency of the entire system, especially in the modern warfare. "

Putin urged military industrialists to stay on the cutting edge of the arms development, demanding that new military equipment be delivered to the armed forces starting from 2014.

"Our weapons today and tomorrow must be better than that of a potential enemy," the Russian president said, stressing that many types of arms Russia produces have already fallen short of the modern combat standards.

In March, Russian Deputy Defence Minister Yuri Borisov said that the country's military-industrial complex has exhausted its scientific and technical stocks.