MOSCOW. Nov 16 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian strategic forces must guarantee the elimination of any aggressor, President Vladimir Putin said at a Thursday meeting of armed forces commanders.
"Strategic deterrence forces must guarantee the elimination of any prospective aggressor, no matter what modern armaments it might possess," he said.
Putin drew attention to the development of new strategic weapons. "That would guarantee the international balance of forces," he said.
"We will not be busy comparing the quantity of weapons possessed by nuclear powers, as we have been doing for decades, although this sometimes makes certain sense. It is the quality of weapons rather than the number of nuclear warheads that is important," he said.
Strategic deterrence forces are not sufficient for ensuring Russian security, Putin said. "We will be unable to efficiently prevent local conflicts without general units," he added.
The conventional forces must be well organized, trained and maintained, Putin said. He said he remembers "soldiers wearing [inconvenient] boots in the mountains. They still do that sometimes."
Putin said he had ordered the General Staff "to think about the outfit of mountain brigades and equip them properly." That would require huge material resources, the president added.
"We have enough resources for holding a peace-loving policy, and this is the only policy we will hold. We simply must be careful with people's money," he said.