- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia’s weapons needed modernization.
- Weapons manufacturers should get feedback from soldiers, he said on Wednesday.
- It is a rare acknowledgment of the shortcomings in the Russian military’s capabilities that the war revealed.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia’s weapons should be modernized, in a rare indication that the Kremlin acknowledges that its military equipment is obsolete.
“For example, with any piece of equipment or equipment, we need to listen to those using it and understand how those items work and whether they are fit for their intended purpose,” Putin told his coordinating council, according to the Kremlin’s official website.
“The same applies to weapons, which must be constantly and continuously updated and improved to remain effective,” Putin added. “As I said, it is essential that we promote competition between manufacturers and developers.”
He made the remarks as his Coordinating Council met to discuss what Putin has called “emerging issues” in the defense sector and other industries, according to the Kremlin.
Putin’s admission is a striking reversal of his remarks in August, when he boasted to foreign allies at a military forum that Russia’s weapons are “up-to-date” and “decades ahead” of their foreign counterparts.
In recent weeks, Putin has signaled to Russia the urgency to streamline and update his army’s administrative procedures and weapons production.
On Friday, he told Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that the military’s registration and recruitment offices needed to be modernized, and pointed to “certain problems, difficulties” in Russia’s mobilization of 300,000 reservists, according to Russia’s Moscow 24 news agency.
In September, Putin also urged Russian defense companies to modernize and increase their production capacities, advising them to study how their equipment compares to Western weapons, according to the state-affiliated TV broadcaster NTV.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now entering its ninth month, has revealed systemic flaws in its army’s logistics, war doctrine and military technology.
Moscow’s inability to gain and hold significant ground in Ukraine, and the destruction of much of its equipment in combat, have said it has been forced to use Soviet-era tanks and weapons systems Western Intelligence.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon also said North Korea had secretly supplied artillery shells to Russia for use in Ukraine.