"It is important to maintain the momentum of Army and Navy rearmament, to effectively monitor the implementation of the state armaments program and fulfilling defense procurement tasks," Putin said.
Responsibility for sabotage in Russia's time-sensitive state defense procurement program should be as strict as possible, President Vladimir Putin also added.
"We must be aware that five years for such a large-scale rearmament program is not that long, and any delay in carrying out its task may disrupt the production chain, which will be very difficult to restore," Putin said.
"Therefore, sanctions for the disruption of contracts should be maximally strict. It is important to quickly identify their causes and resolve them in a timely manner," he stressed.
"In the coming year, the defense ministry needs to concentrate on the next key issues – firstly, to ensure balanced development of all types and ranges of troops, continue familiarization with precision weapons, modern methods of communications and … electronic warfare," Putin said at a defense ministry meeting.
He added that it was important to maintain the momentum in arms modernization next year.
Russia is in the process of implementing a large-scale rearmament program, which was announced in 2010. The country aims to modernize 70 percent of its military hardware by 2020. The cost of the modernization program is estimated at about 20 trillion rubles (over $300 billion).
