Medvedev: Russia needs to improve its army

Georgian aggression in South Ossetia underlines the need to modernise Russia's armed forces in the coming years, and the Russian Army needs to be well-equipped to deal with modern threats, according to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

“We should concentrate on supplying our troops with modern weapons. We will work on this consistently and thoroughly, taking into account – among other things – recent developments like the Caucasus crisis, Georgia's aggression and its ongoing militarisation. This makes the goal I'm speaking of one of our top priorities for the next few years.” said the Russian leader at a meeting with the country's top military officials.

President Medvedev also said that today – when the entire world marks 7 years since 9/11 attacks – the threat of international terrorism remains as strong as ever. He reiterated that Russia will retain its strong position in combating terrorism and is prepared to cooperate with every country in the world, including the US, to deal with the threat.

“The Russian Federation is prepared to participate in fully -fledged cooperation with the US and other countries in the matter of fighting terrorism. We regard this as a matter of the utmost importance. We think that this would be much more helpful than for the US to develop ties with rotten regimes that recourse to irresponsible military activities.” The President added.

He has also pointed out that Russia will do its best to try and participate in international anti-terrorism training as, according to him, this is one of the best ways to tackle the problem.