Russia needs to be strong against fortress US: Putin
Putin also laid out a vision of a Russia switching from an ageing Soviet-era infrastructure to a hi-tech economy.
Addressing both houses of parliament and other top officials in the nationally televised, hour-long speech, Putin said
"It is premature to speak of the end of the arms race," Putin said the annual address. "It is in reality rising to a new technological level," the Russian leader said.
Putin said that the
In his sweeping address, Putin also laid out a vision of a
"In conditions of fierce international competition, the country's economic development must be based, essentially, on its scientific and technological advantages," he said.
"Unfortunately, one has to face that the majority of the technical equipment used in the national economy is not years behind the top level, but decades."
Putin said that modernisation of