President Vladimir Putin has signed Russia’s updated military armament strategy, his spokesperson confirmed on Monday.
Russia’s previous state armament program, which is said to have cost the nation around $1 trillion, sought to overhaul 70 percent of the armed forces’ Soviet-era hardware by 2020.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the Russian president had signed the updated 10-year program before the New Year, Interfax reported on Monday.
“This is a secret presidential decree so I can’t disclose anything,” he told reporters.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told the Kommersant business daily Monday that the updated 2018-2027 program was amended based on assessments of the country’s military operations in Syria.
Around 19 trillion rubles ($340 billion) would be allocated on the new rearmament program, Kommersant reported last year, with priority given to developing nuclear deterrence, precision-guided munitions and a vertical take-off and landing jet.