ISTANBUL 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that serial production of the Oreshnik ballistic missile is underway, as he highlighted the bolstering of combat capabilities as an “urgent task.”

Addressing a meeting with graduates of military universities at the Kremlin, Putin underlined increasing the combat capabilities of all branches of the Russian military, and reminded that a separate branch of the army dealing with drone warfare was being formed.

Defining the technical modernization of the army and navy as “one of the priority areas,” Putin said it was part of the new large-scale and long-term State Armament Program for 2027–2036.

The president said Russia will pay special attention to its nuclear triad, adding that the Strategic Rocket Forces will be supplied with modern Yars missile systems, and that the aviation component of its strategic nuclear forces will be replenished with modernized Tu-160M ​​strategic bombers this year.

“Serial production of the latest medium-range missile system Oreshnik, which has proven itself very well in combat conditions, is underway,” Putin said. “And the navy will include new ships and submarines equipped with the latest generation of high-precision weapons.”

Russia first used the Oreshnik ballistic missile in November 2024, when Putin declared that Moscow struck a plant in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro using the intermediate-range missile in response to Kyiv's use of Western long-range weapons on Russian territory.

Putin also touched on the current international situation, which he said is changing “dynamically,” arguing how the situation in the Middle East has escalated “dramatically” and that extra-regional powers are also being drawn into the conflict.

“All this is bringing the world to a very dangerous point,” Putin said. “We cannot help but be concerned that a number of Western politicians continue to hatch plans to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia – their history has taught them nothing.”

He argued the West plans to announce the start of a large-scale program to further increase NATO’s capabilities during the upcoming summit of the alliance later this month, and that the military budgets of member states will be increased to implement this.

“Meanwhile, the bloc's members are already spending more on military purposes than all the countries of the world combined. From this it is clear who is actually provoking global militarization and the arms race,” he said, denying the idea of “some kind of possible invasion of Europe” by Russia.

“Considering the growth of geopolitical tensions, we will continue to take adequate measures to strengthen the security of Russia and our allies, (and) develop our armed forces as a guarantee of the sovereign and independent development of Russia,” he added.