Vladimir Putin Is Holding Meeting At Defense Ministry

Vladimir Putin is holding a meeting at the Defense Ministry. Opening the meeting, the Russian President said it would focus on "the current vital problems of military security of the country". The Head of State noted the meeting was expedient in the light of the active work on the 2002 budget. "The situation in the world develops rapidly," Putin noted. According to him, "the joint struggle against terrorism had a substantial military component." So "it is necessary to have new standpoints on the course of the military reform, on technical equipment of the armed forces, on the state's military organization without ignoring the social policy," the President stressed.