Vladimir Putin: Russian army has already started to forget about crisis

They have already started to forget about the crisis in the Russian army. As Rosbalt was informed by the Russian president's press office, Vladimir Putin made this announcement at a press conference in Plesetsk yesterday. He said this is shown by the testing of new technical weapons, which took place during the training session in the Barents Sea. 'This does not just prove that Russia has overcome some kind of crisis. It is coming out of it at new heights. It is a breakthrough,' he insisted.

In addition, Mr Putin said the infrastructure of the army is being improved and this will lead to further improvements in the Armed Forces.

The president said that he visited the Northern Fleet and other fleets about 3-3.5 years ago. At that time his main aim was to determine the state of the Armed Forces and military facilities. In particular he visited Plesetsk. 'At that time it was a cosmodrome in name only.' Since then, he said, a great deal of progress has been made. 'People have been working hard and effectively, to judge from what I have seen today. Of course, there is still a lot of other work to be done,' he added.

Mr Putin stressed that he was generally satisfied with the naval training in the Barents Sea although 'there were minuses' and we will have to learn from them. 'We broadcast everything objectively and we will continue to do so,' he added.