ZHYTOMYR, Ukraine. Sept 8 (Interfax-AVN) - Ukraine's defense industry needs modernization and this is impossible without cooperation with Russia, the leader of the opposition Party of Regions, former prime minister Viktor Yanukovych, said on Tuesday.
"The fact that we've been procrastinating with this matter because we've been playing political games means our system of government is unhealthy and needs treatment," Yanukovych said at a meeting with workers at the Zhytomyr Repairs and Mechanical Plant.
"We [the Party of Regions] believe that cooperation with the Russian military industrial complex will be one of our strategic tasks," he said.
Yanukovych said this year's budget allocates 125 million hryvni for the modernization of the military industry but that, when he was prime minister, his government allocated about 500 million for the purpose in 2006 and about 900 million in 2007.