Putin says Russia needs strong military to fend off threats near its borders
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President Vladimir Putin says Russia needs a powerful military to fend off threats near its borders, a statement that reflects tensions with the West over the Ukrainian crisis.
Speaking at Thursday's Kremlin meeting with graduates of Russian military academies, Putin said that a "powerful army equipped with modern weapons is the guarantor of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia."
He vowed to continue a sweeping military modernization effort that envisages procurement of large numbers of new weapons.
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Putin added that Russia has no aggressive intentions and aims to "settle any disputes exclusively by political means with respect to international law and interests of other nations."
Russia-West relations have sunk to post-Cold War lows after Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and support for a pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine.