MOSCOW. May 10 (Interfax-AVN) - President Vladimir Putin said that administrative measures alone were not enough to improve the situation in the army.
"In order to change the situation fundamentally administrative measures alone are insufficient now. We should realize that the army is part of us, of our society and army service is extremely important and necessary for the country, for the entire Russian people," he said in his annual address to the Federal Assembly on Wednesday.
"We must always be ready to repel a potential foreign aggression and acts of international terrorism, we should be ready to respond to any attempts at foreign political pressure on Russia, in particular through strengthening our own positions in this respect," he said.
"We must put it straight - the stronger our armed forces are going to be, the lower the temptation to exert such pressure on us," Putin said.