SOCHI, August 22 (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin said the money spent on Armed Forces war games was justified. "The number of war games conducted in the army, the fleet, and aviation" is impressive, the Russian president told the crews of two strategic bombers, a refueling aircraft, and the commander of the Yakaterinburg submarine that took part in the recent long-range aviation training of the Air Force and the Northern Fleet.
Putin said large-scale exercises with the air force, navy, and land-based troops were being conducted in the Far East along with exercises in southern and northern Russia.
"The training is very intensive, but it is all worth the money," he said. "The country needs it."
The president also spoke about the current joint exercises of the Northern and Baltic Fleets, adding that exercises of this kind and scale had not been held in Russia for more than 20 years.
