Putin says he would show middle finger to those who wanted Russia to collapse

Russia's new weapons are superior to Western analogues, President Vladimir Putin said, TASS reports.

"If you compare modern NATO weapons and weapons of the last period of Soviet times, they are inferior in some ways. (…) If we take our state-of-the-art weapons, they are clearly superior to everything else. This is an obvious fact,” he said.

The President noted that the Russian industry provided not only high quality weapons, but also the required quantity of products. According to him, the production of armour protection for soldiers had a tenfold increase in Russia, whereas the production of uniforms increased by 2.5 times.

Putin also joked about a "famous gesture” that he would like to show to those who wanted Russia to collapse, TASS reports.

Over the past two years, the Russian economy has demonstrated resilience, withstood unprecedented external pressure and continues to develop confidently, Putin said.

Many believed that Russia would collapse, he said.

"…That under the pressure of sanctions we will retreat, surrender, fall apart. I would like to show a well-known gesture to those people, but I won't do that, there are women around here,” he joked.