Vladimir Putin: Russia will develop military and military-technical cooperation with CSTO and SCO and strengthen the defence capability of the Union State

Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, took part in the annual expanded meeting of the Defence Ministry Board of the Russian Ministry of Defence at the National Defence Control Centre on December 21, 2021.
“The military and political situation in the world remains complicated, with increased conflict potential and new seats of tension in several regions. In particular, the growth of the US and NATO military forces in direct proximity to the Russian border and major military drills, including unscheduled ones, are a cause for concern,” emphasized the President of the Russian Federation.
“Given the complicated international situation, it is necessary to develop military and military-technical cooperation with states that are members of the SCO and the CSTO and to pay special attention to strengthening the defence capability of the Russia-Belarus Union State,” kremlin.ru quotes the President of the Russian Federation as saying.
Vladimir Putin expressed his concern over NATO’s nearing the Russian borders. “In this context, I invited the US President to start talks on the drafting of concrete agreements.”
“Incidentally, during our conversation he [the US President] actually proposed appointing senior officials to oversee this sphere,” said Vladimir Putin.
President of the Russian Federation stressed that “we need long-term legally binding guarantees” that NATO’s structures will not approach the border of the Russian Federation.
“We know very well that even legal guarantees cannot be completely fail-safe, because the United States easily pulls out of any international treaty that has ceased to be interesting to it for some reason, sometimes offering explanations and sometimes not, as was the case with the Open Skies treaties,” stated Vladimir Putin.
The President of the Russian Federation explained NATO’s eastward expansion by the Western states’ euphoria after the Cold War and their wrong assessment of the situation. He recalled the West’s actions of the 1990-s and early 2000-s that caused trouble for Russia.
In case of NATO approaching Russian borders, Russia is ready to take military and technical measures, noted the President of the Russian Federation. “If our Western colleagues continue their obviously aggressive line, we will take appropriate military and technical reciprocal measures and will have a tough response to their unfriendly steps.”
The President of the Russian Federation formulated five items for the agenda of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation for 2022.
It includes continuing the planned and well-balanced procurement of modern weapons and equipment for military units. Moreover, “combat and tactical training programmes should prioritize efforts to master modern weaponry, as well as new forms and methods of combat operations. In this connection, combat training programmes should be modified, so that they can be taken into account during exercises next year, including the Vostok 2022 strategic command post exercise,” noted the Russian President.
Another item on the President’s agenda is the necessity to develop “systems to support the decision-making process by commanders at all levels, especially at the tactical level, and to introduce elements of artificial intelligence into these systems” since “all-out success in many spheres now directly depends on well-thought-out and rapid decision-making. In the military sphere, during combat operations, decisions are made in minutes or even seconds.”
Vladimir Putin stated the need to “train versatile commanders who possess knowledge in all fields during operational and combat training.” “It goes without saying that effective operational algorithms should be established at all levels, and advanced automatic systems should also be introduced. At the same time, we can see that modern military conflicts do not take place under pre-set patterns. As before, commanders play a key role in these conflicts,” noted the President of the Russian Federation. “A lot depends on their knowledge, experience, personal qualities, and those who make truly unconventional decisions win battles.”
“They should be listed in the personnel pool of top military commanders, and it is necessary to keep an eye on them even now, to guide them and to provide them with opportunities for subsequent promotion,” stressed the Russian President.
“And, finally, here is the fifth aspect. Given the complicated international situation, it is necessary to develop military and military-technical cooperation with states that are members of the SCO and the CSTO and to pay special attention to strengthening the defence capability of the Russia-Belarus Union State,” emphasized the President of the Russian Federation.